Shen's Journey
by xwlr
Summary: Times are changing, as a masterfully planned Noxian conspiracy forces the League to its knees. The Institute of War is destroyed during Noxus's onslaught, and Shen, one of the few survivors who manage to escape, embarks on a journey to reunite with his companions and make a desperate attempt to tip the world back into balance.
1. Silence

**Game**

"I don't hear it anymoar!" - blurted out Gragas, as he was fighting a wave of mindless creatures that didn't even seem to care about him. Shen was with him, watching out for their safety.

"Hear what?" - he asked.

"Them summoner!" - answered Gragas with a tone telling he considered it obvious. He stopped beating the minions and continued:

"That voice tellin' me whatta do. It's gone!" - he paused for a few seconds. - "Well, I'll drink for that!"

Gragas pulled the cork out of his cask and gulped down almost half of it's content within a second.

"You drink for anything you can name..." - answered Shen - "But you're right. I don't sense my summoner either."

He sheathed his blade and looked around on Summoner's Rift. As far as he knew, both nexuses were still standing. Made sense too, it was only twenty five minutes into the game.

"Well, da match is over!" - said Gragas - "I'm goin' back to the nexus. I have a friend waitin' in the inn anyways."

"The winner team would have been announced" -started Shen but he couldn't finish, because a raging bear broke out of the nearby brush and ferociously charged at them.  
Shen drew his sword in a flash and stood between Gragas and the ganking bear (that turned out to be Udyr) to cover their retreat, but Gragas pushed him away.

"DUDE!" - he yelled - "Them summoners are gone! Ye can have some for that"

He hurled his cask straight into Udyr's face, the rims broke and the barrel exploded, pouring wine everywhere and flushing the bear a few good meters away. Udyr stood up coughing.

"What?! What the ... Gragas, your summoners disappeared too? I thought it was just mine having some problems, but I was coming to steal blue and saw the lane was pushed and ... and what is going on then?"

"Da game is OVER! We can continue it at the inn sometime if you like, but I'm goin back now to da nexus. Gettin' out of this Rift for now."

"No, this is not how a match ends." - Shen stepped forward - "There's something seriously wrong here. The summoners never leave us just like that. And when did you lose connection, Gragas? A good minute ago. We'd be back at the Institute by now."

"Well you can keep fighting if you like, I'm outta here. You're taking this way too seriously Shen." - said Gragas as he walked away, already drinking from another cask he got somewhere. Shen looked after him, then back at Udyr.

"Actually" - the bear started - "It's Summoner's Rift and you're pushing my toplane. Why shouldn't I just gank you?"  
"This is not a game anymore Udyr." - answered Shen coldly - "It seems like the summoners are no longer in control, and our death could be a lot less illusionary by now."

"Hmm, my instincts tell me you're right. If that's the case, it's best to head back to our nexuses and recall to the Institute. Check on them hooded fellows. If they really screwed something up it doesn't worth dying for."

"Reasonable" - Shen nodded - "I hope our teammates will come to the same conclusion. Without the summoner, I don't have contact with them."

"I'll look around in my jungle" - suggested Udyr - "maybe your jungler wandered in with a brave idea. Let's warn them that the summoners probably lost control over the game and that includes death too. I am the jungler in my team but I'd still appreciate if you'd check your woods too."

"Agreed. Let's have no one die today."

Shen watched as Udyr retreated into the jungle, then he also turned around, and started carefully walking into the woods. The sight of the blue golem slowly emerged from the trees' shadows as Shen neared it. It stood still, maybe too still. No one around it. Shen went on, ready to draw his katana any second. The wolf camp. Shen approached it. All of them were asleep.

He crossed the midlane to check the other side of the forest. Wraiths missing, but the lizard was alright. No one from the enemy team. Even his own midlaner was missing. Maybe he's back at the nexus already - thought Shen. Somehow the Rift was gloomy like never before. He walked up the stairs to his base and headed to the pool. He stood on one of the symbols and started recalling back to the Institute of War.

Author's (long) note: So this is a story I started back in 2012 03. 03. and I got stuck with it during the summer and on. Now I'm planning to continue it, and therefore I posted it here to get some reviews and (hopefully) some positive feedback as well, because I need motivation that badly to write.

The first chapters are a bit dump I know, but this is my very first story and later on I feel I got the hang of it, so chapters have increased in lenght and quality.

The main goal of this story was to create a realistic and believable atmosphere while maintaining an intrigueing and exciting storyline.


	2. Onslaught

**Onslaught**

He opened his eyes in the Hall of Summons on the rune platform - the ground shook and there was an explosion-like sound of cracking rock...

"BLOODY HELL SHEN!" - Garen jumped at him, pushing him away from a huge rock that just broke through the wall hitting the ground where Shen appeared.

"Catapult fire?!" - gasped Shen as he got onto his feet again -"The Institute is...?!"

"UNDER ATTACK!" - screamed Ezreal, who just ran into the Hall. His shirt was torn in half, with a huge cut on his chest. He was losing a lot of blood.

"The cursed villains!" - yelled Garen as he ran to the door where Ezreal just fell in - "I'm going to kill them all! ONE BY ONE!"

"Who? But who's attacking?" - shouted Shen after him.

"THE ENTIRE NOXIAN ARMY!" - roared Garen as he stormed out.

Shen, still confused, turned to the wounded Ezreal, trying to stitch a fieldwork bandage together out of the explorer's torn shirt. He managed to wrap it around his chest, and halt the bleeding a little.  
"Where is the Circle?" - asked Shen hastily - "The Circle of Summoners. They should have interfered by now. Bloody hell, Noxus is not allowed to launch an offensive against the Institute! WHERE are they?  
"I don't know." - groaned Ezreal - "They disappeared!"  
"Alright, you'll be fine for now" - said Shen quickly, even though he wasn't that sure himself - "I go find the summoners."

Shen ran out of the Hall of Summons and over the corridor leading there. Just as he ran past the door, from the corner of his eye, he saw Udyr appearing on the rune platform. He didn't actually know where the summoners were in general, they never let the champions that close to themselves. It wasn't even certain that they are in the Institute at all. But Shen suspected that if they are, they must be in some physically high place, probably a room on the top floor or in one of the upper towers, so he chose the quickest path to the Main Stairway and ran as fast as he could.

From the windows of the corridors, he could see the huge army that gathered at the feet of the Institute. He also managed to pick out some catapults, that ultimately explained the stone which almost killed him.

The building itself was full of wounded champions and guards from that little symbolic guard unit the Institute had. It didn't avoid Shen's attention though, that not a single Noxian champion was inside the building. Eventually he reached the front door which was also the place where the main stairway started.

Garen and Jarvan were at the front door, they gathered every able man that remained, and were preparing to break out. Their number didn't seem to even near the tenth of the Noxian Army.

"You can't do anything!" - howled Malzahar - "The Prophecy came true. The Void will consume the land!"

"THIS IS NOXUS, NOT THE VOID!" - yelled Garen and punched the prophet in his stomach. Malzahar fell to the ground and his voidling bit Garen's foot.

"Curses!" - said Garen as he kicked the little crab off his boot. Meanwhile Malzahar managed to get up and started floating again.

"I have warned you!" - he said - "Now if you forgive me, I will not witness your demise. From this close up."

At that point Malzahar simply flew away, with his characteristic open armed levitation.

"One less bloody idiot..." - muttered Garen as he returned to Jarvan. Shen caught up with him, and thought he can't lose anything with a quick question.

"Where are the summoners?" - he shouted over to them.

"They are not here!" - Jarvan yelled back - "WE must settle things OURSELVES!" - the latter was more to the little group of soldiers than Shen. - "OPEN THE DOORS!"

"No! That's not good they'll come in!"

But Shen was late. The doors were already blasted open, and the two Demacians lead their few soldiers against the noxian siege with a loud "DEMACIA!" battle cry. But at the same time noxian soldiers invaded the Institute, running in the front door by the dozen. A catapult stone was immediately fired in through the door, that literally washed away half of the demacian squad, sliding on the blood-wetted slippery corpses. Shen himself barely managed to dash away from the stone's path.

Now that the noxians were flooding the hallway, Shen needed to act fast, and without emotions. In just a split of a second, he whipped out both of his blades, slicing the closest noxian throat in the process, like a shadow, he dodged a slash aimed at his chest, and stabbed his left katana into the attacker's lower neck, to the larynx, but did not pull the sword out, instead he pulled the noxian closer, and while holding him as a human shield with his left, the blade in his right hand parried and cut and pierced through the enemy invaders.

Eventually Shen kicked off his human shield into an other noxian, whom he managed to stab dead while still on the ground, then tumbled and rolled towards the stairway. He stood up and blocked a slash with the bracer on his arm, then thrust his blade up to the hilt into the soldier's stomach, stepped back to avoid a cut while letting go of the weapon stuck inside his opponent and used his other katana to finish off the second attacker. Shen then darted off to the stairway, barely collecting his blade.

His only chance was to find the summoners, although it seemed highly improbable now that they are in the building, let alone the chance that they would actually be able to help. He made it to the second floor, when another catapult stone broke through a huge window, taking a good bit of the wall with it as well, and crashed into the staircase, which collapsed. Shen tried to jump to the platform, but it was too far away, and he fell down among the huge stone stairs. He felt the impact, but nothing

He opened his eyes in the Hall of Summons on the rune platform - the ground shook and there was an explosion-like sound of cracking rock...

"BLOODY HELL SHEN!" - Garen jumped at him, pushing him away from a huge rock that just broke through the wall hitting the ground where Shen appeared.

"Catapult fire?!" - gasped Shen as he got onto his feet again -"The Institute is...?!"

"UNDER ATTACK!" - screamed Ezreal, who just ran into the Hall. His shirt was torn in half, with a huge cut on his chest. He was losing a lot of blood.

"The cursed villains!" - yelled Garen as he ran to the door where Ezreal just fell in - "I'm going to kill them all! ONE BY ONE!"

"Who? But who's attacking?" - shouted Shen after him.

"THE ENTIRE NOXIAN ARMY!" - roared Garen as he stormed out.

Shen, still confused, turned to the wounded Ezreal, trying to stitch a fieldwork bandage together out of the explorer's torn shirt. He managed to wrap it around his chest, and halt the bleeding a little.  
"Where is the Circle?" - asked Shen hastily - "The Circle of Summoners. They should have interfered by now. Bloody hell, Noxus is not allowed to launch an offensive against the Institute! WHERE are they?  
"I don't know." - groaned Ezreal - "They disappeared!"  
"Alright, you'll be fine for now" - said Shen quickly, even though he wasn't that sure himself - "I go find the summoners."

Shen ran out of the Hall of Summons and over the corridor leading there. Just as he ran past the door, from the corner of his eye, he saw Udyr appearing on the rune platform. He didn't actually know where the summoners were in general, they never let the champions that close to themselves. It wasn't even certain that they are in the Institute at all. But Shen suspected that if they are, they must be in some physically high place, probably a room on the top floor or in one of the upper towers, so he chose the quickest path to the Main Stairway and ran as fast as he could.

From the windows of the corridors, he could see the huge army that gathered at the feet of the Institute. He also managed to pick out some catapults, that ultimately explained the stone which almost killed him.

The building itself was full of wounded champions and guards from that little symbolic guard unit the Institute had. It didn't avoid Shen's attention though, that not a single Noxian champion was inside the building. Eventually he reached the front door which was also the place where the main stairway started.

Garen and Jarvan were at the front door, they gathered every able man that remained, and were preparing to break out. Their number didn't seem to even near the tenth of the Noxian Army.

"You can't do anything!" - howled Malzahar - "The Prophecy came true. The Void will consume the land!"

"THIS IS NOXUS, NOT THE VOID!" - yelled Garen and punched the prophet in his stomach. Malzahar fell to the ground and his voidling bit Garen's foot.

"Curses!" - said Garen as he kicked the little crab off his boot. Meanwhile Malzahar managed to get up and started floating again.

"I have warned you!" - he said - "Now if you forgive me, I will not witness your demise. From this close up."

At that point Malzahar simply flew away, with his characteristic open armed levitation.

"One less bloody idiot..." - muttered Garen as he returned to Jarvan. Shen caught up with him, and thought he can't lose anything with a quick question.

"Where are the summoners?" - he shouted over to them.

"They are not here!" - Jarvan yelled back - "WE must settle things OURSELVES!" - the latter was more to the little group of soldiers than Shen. - "OPEN THE DOORS!"

"No! That's not good they'll come in!"

But Shen was late. The doors were already blasted open, and the two Demacians lead their few soldiers against the noxian siege with a loud "DEMACIA!" battlecry. But at the same time noxian soldiers invaded the Institute, running in the front door by the dozen. A catapult stone was immediately fired in through the door, that literally washed away half of the demacian squad, sliding on the blood-wetted slippery corpses. Shen himself barely managed to dash away from the stone's path.

Now that the noxians were flooding the hallway, Shen needed to act fast, and without emotions. In just a split of a second, he whipped out both of his blades, slicing the closest noxian throat in the process, like a shadow, he dodged a slash aimed at his chest, and stabbed his left katana into the attacker's lower neck, to the larynx, but did not pull the sword out, instead he pulled the noxian closer, and while holding him as a human shield with his left, the blade in his right hand parried and cut and pierced through the enemy invaders.

Eventually Shen kicked off his human shield into an other noxian, whom he managed to stab dead while still on the ground, then tumbled and rolled towards the stairway. He stood up and blocked a slash with the bracer on his arm, then thrust his blade up to the hilt into the soldier's stomach, stepped back to avoid a cut while letting go of the weapon stuck inside his opponent and used his other katana to finish off the second attacker. Shen then darted off to the stairway, barely collecting his blade.

His only chance was to find the summoners, although it seemed highly improbable now that they are in the building, let alone the chance that they would actually be able to help. He made it to the second floor, when another catapult stone broke through a huge window, taking a good bit of the wall with it as well, and crashed into the staircase, which collapsed. Shen tried to jump to the platform, but it was too far away, and he fell down among the huge stone stairs. He felt the impact, but nothing more.


	3. Revelation

**Revelation**

Full moon. That was the first thing Shen noticed when he opened his eyes. The second was the darkness. Third was the pain. He quietly moaned and raised his head. Every bone of his felt like as if it could shatter into pieces any second, but he managed to sit up and look around. It took him almost an entire minute until he realized what had actually happened. He is sitting among the crushed ruins of the Institute of War.

Still no trace of the summoners. Shen wasn't even sure they're actually alive. He remembered the demacian attempt to break out from behind the sieged doors. He started to scan the corpses laying around him. The air was cold, and the icy wind cut into his wounds and abrasions. At least the moon gave a little light, despite the thick, black clouds around it.

Shen noticed Garen's sword, but there was no sign of his body. He also found no trace of Jarvan IV, but judging from the other corpses, the demacian onslaught didn't actually made it farther than a few meters. It was a bloody massacre. Shen raised his eyes, looking further up. He saw thousands of little black tents around the ruins of the Institute, and when he focused his eye a little stronger, he could make out some disarmed catapults farther away in the darkness. The demacians had no chance. But at least they died with honor - or did they? The charge seemed completely pointless to Shen now, as he witnessed it's result.

"Soo, honor doesn't worth dying for anymore?" - asked a sarcastic voice, that sounded like as if it came straight out of the Void. Shen immediately threw one of his katanas at the sound's direction, but it passed through a black mist then bounced off of the ruined stone wall.

"You can no longer harm me, Shen. I am free." - two blazing white eyes appeared out of the black mist, then, after a brief glint of metal, the two Umbra Blades followed.

"Nocturne!" - said Shen coldly - "You brought the noxians upon us?"

Nocturne let out a cold metallic laugh.

"No, I have nothing to do with the noxians. They came on their own."

Shen gazed into Nocturne's blazing white eyes. He faced them so many times in the Fields of Justice, but back then these eyes were empty compared to what they were now. He then slowly asked the question that bothered him the most, ever since the toplane-pushing with Gragas. Shen somehow felt Nocturne knows the answer. And perhaps Nocturne knew more than what Shen wanted to hear.

"What happened to the summoners? Why didn't they interfere?"

Nocturne remained silent and pulled his ghostly finger over the edge of his blade. Finally he faced Shen, and stared into his eyes. Shen's mind was filled with nightmarish flashing images of screaming summoners as he cuts them down one by one, mercilessly ripping them apart. Then Nocturne spoke, with a voice as cold as the wind in the night.

"Because the noxians came to me first."

"But" - Shen frowned - "the noxian army could not have entered the Institute if the summoners were there. How could they come to you first?"

"They did not have to enter the Institute. They were already inside." - Nocturne's voice sounded like as if it would form an evil smile. Aside from being crippling cold.

"Who got inside earlier? And how?"

"Ooh, Shen, but you know them very well. Singed, for example is an excellent chemist. The prisoners of the League are protected by both physical and magical barriers. Thanks to Singed's acids, which melt everything from stone to iron, the physical barriers were no longer a problem."

"They freed you!" - Shen concluded - "But how could they overcame the summoners' magic? It is said to be the strongest in all of Valoran."

"Remember" - said Nocturne calmly - "Destroying is always easier than creating. Our little friends were actually lucky with this one. The answer is Ryze. No, he did not side with Noxus. But the urge, to discover all kinds of magic, study them and understand them was strong. So strong, that he actually visited my prison and studied the magic that kept him safe from me." - Nocturne paused here for a while. - "And that included writing it down. Twitch was promised support in his research and a seat in Zaun's council for stealing it. Talon is not as much of a patriot as Katarina is, he never does anything that doesn't pay off directly to his hands. But he was paid well for killing Twitch after the rat acquired Ryze's documents. I don't even have to tell who planned it all out, do I now?"

Shen knew the answer:

"Swain. Jericho Swain." - the face of the general appeared in Shen's mind, looking at him with a cruel, awkward grin - "But who broke the magic barrier? I don't suppose LeBlanc deceived it?"

Nocturne laughed.

"No, the summoners are better than that. It was a dark mage who broke the barrier. A tiny one. Called Veigar. No one suspected that he is actually that evil. No matter how hard he kept telling you. Veigar had enough power to destroy the barriers with the information Ryze gathered."

"Then you killed most of the summoners, and the noxian army lay siege on the Institute. Nice plan."

"Not just me. Brand was also freed. We both had our little vengeance against the summoners."  
Revelation

Full moon. That was the first thing Shen noticed when he opened his eyes. The second was the darkness. Third was the pain. He quietly moaned and raised his head. Every bone of his felt like as if it could shatter into pieces any second, but he managed to sit up and look around. It took him almost an entire minute until he realized what had actually happened. He is sitting among the crushed ruins of the Institute of War.

Still no trace of the summoners. Shen wasn't even sure they're actually alive. He remembered the demacian attempt to break out from behind the sieged doors. He started to scan the corpses laying around him. The air was cold, and the icy wind cut into his wounds and abrasions. At least the moon gave a little light, despite the thick, black clouds around it.

Shen noticed Garen's sword, but there was no sign of his body. He also found no trace of Jarvan IV, but judging from the other corpses, the demacian onslaught didn't actually made it farther than a few meters. It was a bloody massacre. Shen raised his eyes, looking further up. He saw thousands of little black tents around the ruins of the Institute, and when he focused his eye a little stronger, he could make out some disarmed catapults farther away in the darkness. The demacians had no chance. But at least they died with honor - or did they? The charge seemed completely pointless to Shen now, as he witnessed it's result.

"Soo, Honor doesn't worth dying for anymore?" - asked a sarcastic voice, that sounded like as if it came straight out of the Void. Shen immediately threw one of his katanas at the sound's direction, but it passed through a black mist then bounced off of the ruined stone wall.

"You can no longer harm me, Shen. I am free." - two blazing white eyes appeared out of the black mist, then, after a brief glint of metal, the two Umbra Blades followed.

"Nocturne!" - said Shen coldly - "You brought the noxians upon us?"

Nocturne let out a cold metallic laugh.

"No, I have nothing to do with the noxians. They came on their own."

Shen gazed into Nocturne's blazing white eyes. He faced them so many times in the Fields of Justice, but back then these eyes were empty compared to what they were now. He then slowly asked the question that bothered him the most, ever since the toplane-pushing with Gragas. Shen somehow felt Nocturne knows the answer. And perhaps Nocturne knew more than what Shen wanted to hear.

"What happened to the summoners? Why didn't they interfere?"

Nocturne remained silent and pulled his ghostly finger over the edge of his blade. Finally he faced Shen, and stared into his eyes. Shen's mind was filled with nightmarish flashing images of screaming summoners as he cuts them down one by one, mercilessly ripping them apart. Then Nocturne spoke, with a voice as cold as the wind in the night.

"Because the noxians came to me first."

"But" - Shen frowned - "the noxian army could not have entered the Institute if the summoners were there. How could they come to you first?"

"They did not have to enter the Institute. They were already inside." - Nocturne's voice sounded like as if it would form an evil smile. Aside from being crippling cold.

"Who got inside earlier? And how?"

"Ooh, Shen, but you know them very well. Singed, for example is an excellent chemist. The prisoners of the League are protected by both physical and magical barriers. Thanks to Singed's acids, which melt everything from stone to iron, the physical barriers were no longer a problem."

"They freed you!" - Shen concluded - "But how could they overcame the summoners' magic? It is said to be the strongest in all of Valoran."

"Remember" - said Nocturne calmly - "Destroying is always easier than creating. Our little friends were actually lucky with this one. The answer is Ryze. No, he did not side with Noxus. But the urge, to discover all kinds of magic, study them and understand them was strong. So strong, that he actually visited my prison and studied the magic that kept him safe from me." - Nocturne paused here for a while. - "And that included writing it down. Twitch was promised support in his research and a seat in Zaun's council for stealing it. Talon is not as much of a patriot as Katarina is, he never does anything that doesn't pay off directly to his hands. But he was paid well for killing Twitch after the rat acquired Ryze's documents. I don't even have to tell who planned it all out, do I now?"

Shen knew the answer:

"Swain. Jericho Swain." - the face of the general appeared in Shen's mind, looking at him with a cruel, awkward grin - "But who broke the magic barrier? I don't suppose LeBlanc deceived it?"

Nocturne laughed.

"No, the summoners are better than that. It was a dark mage who broke the barrier. A tiny one. Called Veigar. No one suspected that he is actually that evil. No matter how hard he kept telling you. Veigar had enough power to destroy the barriers with the information Ryze gathered."

"Then you killed most of the summoners, and the noxian army lay siege on the Institute. Nice plan."

"Not just me. Brand was also freed. We both had our little vengeance against the summoners."


	4. Nightmare

**Nightmare**

"So you didn't care for the noxians. You only wanted revenge over the The Circle."

Nocturne flew a little closer to Shen's face.

"The summoners are dead, Shen! The Institute is in ruins. The old world is destroyed. Aren't you angry? Don't you long to avenge it? Or are you scared?"

"I would judge the responsibles." - replied Shen with a tone as confident as he could get, facing The Eternal Nightmare - "And my judgment would be just."

Nocturne flew even closer, their eyes were only inches away now.

"You cannot judge me, Shen. You cannot touch me. I am beyond your reach."

"You're exaggerating Nocturne, the "Old World" is not destroyed. The noxians can be stopped."

"I hear they worked a lot on your emotions. You surely don't feel sorrow over the destruction, do you? You don't even care. Just like with your father, right?"

Shen's vision blurred and faded. It took several seconds until he could see clearly again. He was deep inside the forests of Ionia, walking up the stairs, to the altar where his father was restrained. It was his initiation, when he became the Eye of Twilight. He had to witness his father being tortured, without showing a trace of emotion. He took his position. Deep breath. Shen signaled the torturer, that he is ready. Nocturne nodded, and the light glinted on his blade as he began cutting the skin of his victim.

"How does it feel, watching your own father suffer, Shen? Would you rather take his place instead of him?" - Nocturne's voice echoed from the Void as his blade pierced through his victim's body.

"No! Nocturne wasn't there" - Shen told to himself - "The torturer was a member of the Kinkou. But I must not answer him!" He remembered the trial too well. It was a painful memory and the last thing he wanted is to re-live it. Shen had to force his eyes to look at his father. He wasn't even allowed to blink.  
He tried to keep his mind empty. His father also wants him to pass the test. No matter how much it hurts, he would be disappointed if the ritual would have to be stopped because of his son.

"Shen, I am so disappointed..." - whispered Nocturne as he was sawing off his victim's legs - "You are not as strong as I thought."

"He did NOT suffer permanent damage!" - Shen yelled at him - "Stop this madness already!"

"Your emotions are taking over you. You are not worthy, Shen!" - Nocturne didn't even try to restrain himself now. He was extracting his victim's spine through his body. There was enough blood for five matured adults.

"You are mad, Nocturne! This is not reality!" - said Shen trying to calm himself.

"Are you the same as weak ... if it's about your friends?" - asked Nocturne's cold, metallic voice as he was cutting Akali's belly open, who was now restrained on the altar.

Akali! And Kennen! Shen totally forgot about them during the attack. Did they die in the Institute? Or could they escape? Are they hurt?

"Where is Akali?" - Shen stepped forward.

"Shen...!" - Akali groaned in pain. Nocturne was using her sawed off ribs to pierce her lungs - "I'm here ... Help me!"

"NOCTURNE!" - bawled Shen - "Where is Akali?!"

Nocturne looked up with a chunk of fried meat in his hand, resembling a yordle leg.

"Kennen knows. Ask him."

Shen was just about to grab Nocturne, but he found himself among the ruins of the Institute once more.

"You are not easy to impress." - Nocturne said, now in a calm, steady tone. - "I did not harm any of the champions. But I saw many of them fleeing. Your friends were running South. But be careful. Brand also went South, and he's probably lighting the Plague Jungles on fire above Wukong's head by now." - Nocturne picked up Shen's blade from the cracked floor and handed it to him - "You should not throw your weapons around so carelessly."

Before Shen could answer, Nocturne turned into mist.


	5. From The Shadows

**From the Shadows**

Shen shook his head. He needed to get used to reality again. Nocturne's vision dazzled his mind. Nocturne really doesn't have anything better to do than play pranks on him? But at least he gave some usable information. So now Shen had a destination, but first of all, he needed to get out of the ruins, and through the noxian war camp surrounding it.

This war camp basically consisted of thousands of little black tents for the infantry, which were set up in a rim around the Institute's ruins. The distant disarmed catapults indicated the position of the artillery officers, and as it is in an army, usually that isn't far from the general's tent. Now this meant that the general's tent was pretty far away with all the extra guards with it, and Shen had no reason to even try to go near it.

The stairway collapsed upon itself during the siege, but the pile of stone where Shen awakened was still roughly two meters high. He got onto his feet and carefully walked to the edge. He had to land without making any loud noise, otherwise he will be noticed and the entire noxian army will be at his heels in no time. Shen, agile as a cat, dropped himself from the ledge and rolled as soon as he landed, thus suppressing most of the noise.

He knew the Institute's stairs were facing directly South, so that is the direction he had to follow. The night was on his side, hiding him from prying eyes. The grass was also tall, only the former garden of the Institute had it's grass cut short. The moon however, was shining bright.

Shen lay down onto the ground, letting the grass cover him, and sneaked towards the closest little black tent. There were so many of them that he had no choice but to sneak through among them till the edge of the camp. He noticed a few guards patrolling with torches but aside from that the army seemed to be asleep.

Shen reached the first tent from the Institute and crawled forward, slowly and carefully. The entrances were facing random directions, so occasionally he had to sneak directly in front of open doors. At one point, after a few minutes of sneaking, he heard footsteps behind him. Without a moment's hesitation, he rolled behind the closest tent that covered him from the noise's direction. Shen waited for them to pass. The noxian soldiers were quietly speaking to each other with muffled whispers:

"Do you think we should go now?"

"I dunno, general will be angry if he finds out."

"Oh come on he won't. Just think about it, the corpses all lay there in full equipment. Tomorrow morning the loot will be collected and we ain't gettin nothin. In this moonlight we have a chance to actually pick up something valuable."

"I dunno, it's risky."

"Look, I'll have Roach standing guard for us okay? His tent is somewhere around here. I'm sure he'll be in, hes a good lad." - the man made a few steps forward - "Psst! Roach! You here? Come on lad I've gotta talk to you."

Shen decided it was time to sneak on, but the noxians were looking at his direction. He couldn't leave his cover just yet. But then, from a tent closely right to him, a man pushed his head out to look around. He immediately knew that this guy is "Roach" and that this Roach had noticed him crouching there. Shen almost left his shadow behind, so quickly he drew his katana and leaped forward to the tent, slicing up Roach's throat before he could shout, and just barely managing to land soundlessly on his fingers and toes.

"Roach! Psst! Damn it mate, come on out here." - the noxian continued the quiet whispering - "It'll worth your while I promise."

"Leave it dude, Roach is a bloody good sleeper. You won't wake him up without the rest of the camp, unless you know which tent is exactly his."

"To hell with it, I have no idea. Damn I still say we should try it. Find some fancy blades or somethin..."

The noxians kept on walking and Shen could finally move forward. Just in case he tugged Roach's body back into his bed and continued south, making sure he moves low enough to be hidden by the tall grass. Occasionally there were passages left free between the lines of tents. Every once in a while Shen crouched up to check on the positions of the torch-equipped guards. The closest was to his lower left, but still far enough for him to safely cross one of these empty paths.

He rolled behind the cover of the closest tent in the next bunch and froze. He spotted a man in black clothes, without a torch, moving in his direction. It was unlikely that he noticed Shen, but still, he was heading exactly towards him.

"So..." - thought Shen - "there are guards without torches too. I need to be more careful".

He could have just sneaked forward but a noxian roughly two meters to his left stepped out of his tent. Bloody sleepless folk! This was a dangerously close distance. It wasn't all though. The guy coming towards him actually pointed with his finger just a little near his hiding spot. The sleepless soldier turned around and glared into the darkness that surrounded Shen.

"Alright..." - Shen quickly summarized - "my cover is blown in about two seconds, but it will hold out that far."

He quickly but silently drew his blade, and for exactly one second held back his breath and aimed at the nearing noxian who pointed out his location before. The katana swished through the air, and with deadly precision, hit the soldier's voice box, silencing him as he fell on his knees, choking from the sword that pierced his throat. Shen already made his next move before the flying katana actually hit it's target, slicing the sleepless soldier's neck with his other blade, and so the two noxians silently fell to the ground at the exact same time.

Shen wasted no time, he crawled back to recover his blade and dragged both of the soldiers into the sleepless noxian's tent. No one should notice 'till morning. He couldn't sneak as fast he would have liked to from now on, because he took extra care to scout for torchless guards as well as keeping an eye out for noises betraying someone's restless night. He avoided nearing tents where he could hear the sleeper rolling around in his bed, or even talking to themselves. He knew war goes hard on people's mind, but it was so long since he has actually been in any war.

Shen was already nearing the edge of the rim when he noticed a patrol of around nine or ten soldiers sweeping the area, clearly searching for something, and clearly not bothering if they waked someone up in the process. This marching allowed them such speed that Shen simply wouldn't have had the time to slowly sneak out of their way. He had to think fast of another solution. He will almost certainly be found if he keeps crouching at the foot of a tent in the shining moonlight. The patrol was nearing fast, so Shen decided, and crawled into the nearest tent. He was lucky, the infantry inside was fast asleep and didn't show any signs of waking up too soon.

"That's good." - thought Shen - "he can stay alive as long as he stays asleep."

He hid in the darkest section of the little temporary home. Shen listened and he could catch a few voices. He wanted to know if it's him they're looking for. After all, he hid all the bodies perfectly.

"Check that area!" - said a commanding, deep voice - "He might have tried to leave the camp."

"Understood" - answered another male voice.

A few seconds passed by without any voices, then:

"Nothin' left." - reported a soldier

"Clean right, not a soul" - said another.

"No sign of the looter, Sir!"

"We must find him, or them by the morning" - said the voice that was probably of an officer of some sort - "Every captured object belongs to the Noxian Army. Besides if the soldiers find out that some took more than their share, that will cause a riot. So get moving and find whomever stole Garen's claymore. In the report of the successful seizure of the Institute by Dusk, that sword lay before the Front Gate. Now it doesn't. General Swain specifically ordered it to be taken to his residence by dawn, so you'd better find it fast."

Shen heard footsteps passing before his tent's door. He counted three soldiers overall walking past his cover. They made enough noise for Shen to know when they were finally out of dangerous distance. He dropped one more glance on the sleeping soldier, then carefully sneaked out of the tent. The last twenty meters to the edge of the war camp went smoothly, Shen didn't notice any suspicious activity. After leaving the most outer of the tents, he still kept sneaking in a crouch until he was sure he's far enough to safely stand up, without being noticed from the noxian camp.


	6. Journey

**Journey**

Shen was finally out of reach for the noxians. His legs and back were all hurting from the much sneaking, crouching, and all the laying low. He glared into the full moon. Now where? Forward, just like that, always forward? If Akali ran South from the attack, that doesn't mean she kept on to that direction. He needs to find a village and ask if anyone has seen her.

Shen started walking on the clear, open field hoping to find the road somewhere. It was his best bet, to find the road and a village along it. Then he can ask about Akali. He had no idea how far could Akali be ahead of him. If she's healthy, she could be a good thirty miles away by now, but there is a good chance the girl is wounded. In that case Shen suspected she must have spent some time in the closest village, and the inhabitants will be able to give him directions about her location.

Shen's legs were aching. He must have fell on his left ankle. When sneaking out of the camp he could not allow himself to focus on his injuries, but now it became painfully obvious that many of his bones are badly bruised. The long blades of grass were stroking his legs as he kept going on the seemingly endless field. The cold air refreshed his lungs and gentle wind breezed his body.

Shen was tired, his head filled with a dump pain, but he kept his eyes up, searching for any sign of the road. Miles went after miles and he kept losing strength every minute. After an hour's walk he finally saw it, a narrow bumpy little dirt road. Now there's bound to be a village soon. Shen kept thinking about his friends as he followed it.

Nocturne said Kennen knows where's Akali. Makes sense, they escaped together, but did they pick different ways? Were they forced to split up or was it just easier to disappear if they went separately. Perhaps they're still together, trying to get to Ionia somehow.

Crop fields appeared on the roadside as Shen kept going. What started out as just a few trees on the right, now formed a sparse forest, while little hills appeared on the left. His steps were hardly balanced. His left ankle hurt so much now, that he was putting a lot of weight on his right leg. As he neared the crop fields, Shen noticed an unusually large pack of ravens gathering around a scarecrow. He smiled. This could only mean one thing. He crossed the crop field and approached it.  
"Fiddlesticks? Is that you?" - he asked silently.

"Master Shen!" - looked up the scarecrow. As it moved, a few crows angrily flew off of it, having their rest bothered - "Wonderful times for ravens and crows, isn't it? Wonderful times..."

"Ravens and crows..." - repeated Shen - "They say they're the only true victors of war."

"Every one of the darlings is fed and happy. There haven't been such a feast in decades." - said Fiddlesticks with his creaking old voice.

"Look, Fiddlesticks, I need you to tell me something. Have you seen Akali or Kennen going over this road?"

"Master Kennen went this way, but that was a dozen hours before."

"Was he alone? And unharmed?" - asked Shen excitedly. This was the first good news in a long time.

"He seemed to have suffered a few scratches here and there." - answered Fiddlesticks slowly - "The poor thing was so exhausted, barely dragged himself. My crows, the dears, they thought he'll be part of the dinner today. Yes, my darling..." - he turned to one of his ravens - "Yordle's eyes are certainly succulent.

Shen ignored the comment. There was more he wanted to know.

"Where is the village these crop fields belong to?" - he asked.

"These are but the very outer fields. The village is further along the road, in a few hour's walk. You could get there by dawn."

"Thank you Fiddlesticks. I appreciate your help. If I may know, how did you avoid the noxian attack?"

"I spend all my free time here in these fields, so that I can be with my lovelies. You need to find time to be with those who are important to you."

"So that's why I never saw you at the Institute." - smiled Shen - "But that doesn't matter anymore now does it? I'll be on my way."

"Safe journey Master Shen" - creaked Fiddlesticks.

Shen made his way back to the road, but he decided he won't push himself to the village. Instead he walked inside the little roadside forest. As he went among the shadows of the trees, he heard the wind playing around with the leaves, and occasionally, the light footsteps of animals running away, or the sound of birds' flapping wings.

When he was deep enough not to be seen from the road, he sat down at the foot of an old oak. He closed his eyes, steadied his breathing and cleared his mind to prepare his body for regeneration. The healing music of the Ionian waterfalls played in his ears. He rested his entire being in perfect peace, and balance.

[...]

Shen awoke early in the morning, but rays of light were already seeping through the trees' foliage. The meditation was successful, his bones now strengthened, his muscles full of energy. Even his skin healed a lot for one night. Only his clothes remained torn and dirty.

Shen stood up, and bowed before the woods, thanking them for their shelter during the night. He continued his travel, leaving the forest, and following the road further south. Thick white clouds covered the sun, and it's damped yellowish light cast through the morning fog. The air was still cold and felt a little wet. Rain is to be expected. Now in the daylight Shen could better examine the landscape.

The countryside of the south was mostly flat, with only a few smaller hills breaking it, and the endless sea of grass was dotted by a few loan oaks and small groups of pines, aside from the little forest to the road's right. After a few hours of walk Shen finally saw the thatched roofs of the village houses.


	7. Village

Village

Shen walked up to the village along the bumpy dirt road. The houses weren't densely placed, each had a lot of space around it. Even from a distance he saw that the village centered around the meeting point of two roads, the one he arrived on, and another crossing it. The intersection itself seemed to have turned into some kind of a main square. As he was nearing the houses, some man in rugged leather clothes who was previously leaning against the wall of a nearby house, now ran up to him.

"You wish to enter our fabulous settlement, good sir?" - he asked with a grin.

"I do" - answered Shen with a questioning look on his face. The guy didn't move. - "So please stand aside, if you will."

"Certainly sir! There is just one little business to settle before that. To enter, you need to donate a small amount to ... hmm, let's say to the village's church."

"The village church is taxing people entering the settlement?" - Shen looked at him suspiciously - "To be honest, it doesn't sound too believable."

"It ain't tax sir, no way, it's just a little donation. A sign of your good will towards the village you're just about to enter."

"What if I'm not entering the village with any specific good will in mind?" - Shen started to figure out what's going on.

"Nah sir, I DO trust you are the generous sort." - he answered with a threatening face.

"You're cheap." - Shen told him - "You could have at least come up with a better excuse to extort money from travelers."

"Now listen here old man! I don't know what you're so damn confident about with these ridiculous torn rags of yours. Maybe those two rusty rods on your back you're so proud of, I ain't know but me is bloody sure ya stole 'em somewhere, can't even hold one of em with two hands. I just tell ya that one, I shout back to them fellas and before you count to three, ya'll find urself thrown into da ditch n pieces. So pay up sucker, while I let you!

Shen analyzed his opponent. Average height but thin, with a relatively weak muscular system. No visible weapons on his outfit. Leather and linen equipment, not likely to wear any protection. Uncovered head with high, almost sticking out cheek-bones - easy to break. Supposedly having backup, if not lying, then around three-four young adult males, probably stronger than himself - should be avoided, as one or more of them could die. Greedy, aggressive facial expression, probably won't listen to reason.

Decision was made. With one precise, strong punch on the face, Shen knocked him out unconscious before he could even think about shouting. This way he could avoid any larger conflict.

"Old man ey?" - he muttered as he knelt down to check the damage inflicted - "Quite a punch from an old man it seems..."

Everything was alright, he was unconscious but breathing, cheekbone appeared to be slightly bruised. He will recover in a few hours, though a temporary memory loss is possible.

"Now about my torn rags, I think it's time to balance out our wealth." - and with that said, Shen took half of the coins he found in the guy's pockets. It was three gold coins and twenty coppers. He must have been doing rather well. Maybe a wounded champion who couldn't resist him?

He looked around. It was early in the morning and most of the folk were still sleeping. He couldn't spot anyone who would have noticed, so he stood up and went inside the little village. He stopped at the main square at the crossroads to look around. First thing he noticed was a wooden column on the middle of the square, with a wood statue on top of it, showing some kind of bird expanding it's wings. Then he looked at the houses, they were randomly placed around the village center. Some had farm wagons near them, a hen house in the back garden, scythe and rake laying around. He noticed that a few houses were burned down. Also, there were a few similar black tents like back in the war camp, indicating a noxian presence. Than he spotted the largest building, with empty barrels in front of it. That must have been the tavern. If you're looking for rumors or information, that's always the place to start. He headed over to it and entered through the large two winged wooden door. It looked like a nice, comfortable place with the tables in front of the bartab, still supporting some passed out villagers, and a stairs leading to the floor above. But then he noticed the tavern keeper as he was cleaning the bartab with some old cloth.

"What the ... well now, I didn't expect that." - Shen said, both laughing and surprised - "Gragas! What are you doing here?"

"Bloody hell..." - Gragas looked up and stared at him - "Is dat you Shen? Goddamit, come, come closer I'll give you some drink in a minute."

"No need, I think I'll manage." - answered Shen still smiling.

"Well I can see you ain't had an easy time gettin' here. Still better than dead ain't it. I actually thought you were."

"I'm not so easy to kill. But now you to tell me. How did you get away and how did you end up here?"

Gragas drank the mug of grog he originally poured for Shen, even though he refused it.

"As ya know, I recalled a lot earlier than you, so I arrived back at da Institute before the siege began. It was a chaos already. Everyone somehow felt that them summoners are missing and some claimed they saw Brand runnin over a corridor. Now as ya can imagine, Nasus and Renekton immediately jumped at each other's throat, and so did Kayle and Morgana. It was a bloody mess I tell ya. I just grabbed me cask and ran straight to the backdoor of the Institute because it was facin' south, and the noxians came from da north. And so I followed that little road till over here, but then I got tired and saw this place had a bloody inn, so I decided to get some rest. By the way, did you know that Fiddlesticks planted his arse in one of them crop fields? Anyways, I was just gettin the party started when those rotting noxians got here too. They said they're "takin' over" or something. What matters is that at the end they didn't get enough grog so they killed old Barty, the tavern keeper and I took over. I'll be stayin' here till the road to north is clean again. Then I'll go to Freljord, to the Avarosa Iceflow. I have a brewery there, and it's far enough from all these noxians."

"Interesting story." - Shen nodded - "and since you're the tavern keeper now, can I ask for some food? Bread will do. I can pay. And I also have some more questions if you have the time."

"Sure but I'm not taking money from you Shen. Friends from da League, and I don't know how many of them are left." - Gragas opened a cupboard and put some bread and cheese on the bar counter. - "Now tell me, what's eatin' ya?"

"I'm looking for my friends, Kennen and Akali." - answered Shen as he got to his breakfast - "Fiddlesticks told me he saw Kennen going this way. Have you seen him? Or Akali for that matter?"

"No Shen I haven't" - said Gragas with a worrying look on his face - "But that doesn't mean he's not here. You know they don't like nonhumans around here, especially since the noxian army arrived."

"Yes, I know Noxus detests all nonhumans, or at least those who don't slaughter in their name." -nodded Shen.

"Now what I'm thinking is that even he's here, hes probably laying low somewhere, trying to avoid attention. But then the peasants won't be much of a help finding him."

"Damn." - sighed Shen.

"But you're not entirely safe here either" - continued Gragas - "A drunken noxian told me they're looking for any ionians that survived. They don't want you in their lines when Noxus attacks. Shen, if you're recognized, you'll probably be attacked on sight. Lucky thing you came this early, coz these soldiers are the lazy sort."

"I see. And then I can forget about talking to the villagers. Seems like I'll have to take my mask off for now."

"What? But you never removed it before." - Gragas was pretty surprised.

"Yes, but by now, everyone knows my mask yet no one knows my face. It simply does not serve the purpose of hiding my identity anymore. I will also need some new clothes. Do you have any idea?"

"There's a tailor close by, you could try there. Look, if anyone's gloomy with you, just tell 'em I know you."

"Many thanks." - answered Shen. He stayed to finish his breakfast. He didn't need to take off his mask for that, it was torn around his mouth anyway.

When he finished, he walked out of the tavern and searched for the tailor's shop. He soon found the sign hanging from a small building with a tiny drawing of a shirt on it. But it was early in the morning and the shop was still closed. Shen headed back to the tavern but then he saw a little well near it, so he walked up to it instead. There was a bucket full of water around it too. He sat down next to it on the ground, drew both of his swords and began cleaning them with his clothes. It's been a while since he took lives for real, but all of them was necessary. He regretted none of his decisions. When the blades were relatively clean again, the sun has already rose higher and villagers began to appear on the main square. Then he finally saw the tailor unlocking the door of his shop, then entering. Alright, time to take off that mask. Shen removed the torn piece of clothe covering his head and the gentle, cold wind touched his face, breezing his medium-length dark black hair.

A ninja adapts to his environment. Swords and masks are not symbols, but tools to aid him in achieving his goal. A ninja does not pursuit false ideals. If in this environment, the mask is only setting him back, and keeping him from finding his friends, then he will take it off. His friends worth a lot more than that.

He got up and headed straight to the tailor. He entered the little wooden door, into the shop. It was a small dark room with only one window, and many clothes and equipment were stored on the wall, on shelves or hanged up.

"Why come so early?" - asked the tailor with a grumpy voice. Then he looked at Shen's clothes - "Ah, I see ... so what'll it be?"

Shen picked a good, strong linen shirt and a leather jacket plus a pair of studded leather trousers. His belt, bracers and other steel armor was still in one piece so there was no reason to drop those.

"You don't look like you have the money for that." - said the tailor with a bit of contempt in his tone, as he packed everything together - "It'll be three silver coins."

Shen put a gold on the counter. Back in the Institute he didn't encounter much with lower grade money than gold, but he still knew the currency from earlier years. Ten silvers make a gold and a hundred coppers make a silver coin. Of course in the Institute they used unreasonable amounts of gold, but that was just for the show, since they didn't take anything home from matches anyway. It was meant to make them feel special.

"I don't trust you" - grunted the tailor as he picked up the coin - "I never saw you before here. Who the hell are you anyway? And that" - he pointed at the gold - "is fake isn't it?"

"You treat every customer like that?" - asked Shen calmly - "Can't be doing too well in business."

"You're joking?" - asked the tailor angrily - "You look like a beggar and then throw gold in my face? Why should I believe it's genuine?"

"Gragas knows me. You can ask him about me next time you go to the tavern. Probably that won't be too long from now. You still don't look sober."

"Riiight. Gragas. But if he happens to say he never saw you..."

"The gold will still be genuine." - Shen finished the sentence for him.

The tailor searched all his drawers, then finally gave Shen the seven silver coins and pushed the equipment a little closer to him.

"Pleasure doing business." - he said - "Now get out of here."

Shen grabbed his belongings and left the shop. He went straight back to the little well behind the tavern where he cleaned his blades, and changed his clothes there. The old ones were really dirty and torn, but still mostly recognizable so he had to get rid of them somehow. He noticed that the tavern was lit by torches during the night and of them was still burning on the wall outside. He took it out of it's iron support and ignited his old clothing. No one will be able to trace him now. In the flames he saw the ruins of the Institute again.

It was time to start looking for his friends. Still nothing about Akali, but Kennen should be nearby. Shen went back to the main square to ask villagers heading out to the fields. He saw that a few noxian guards already woke up, some headed to the tavern others just stood at their posts with their face rotting from boredom. They were looking straight through him, none of them seemed to know who he was. They were fully unaware that Shen, the Eye of Twilight walks past them. He looked like a simple wanderer, as it wasn't unusual for them to carry weapons.

"Good man, could you answer a short question?" - he asked a nearby villager - "I'm looking for a yordle who went this way. Have you seen him?"

"I don't know of any yordle who went this way and is still in one piece." - he answered with contempt - "Go ask in the tavern. Maybe he'll be served as dinner today."

"Why hate nonhumans so much?" - asked Shen.

"They're the cause of everything The war, the noxians here and all." - answered the man - "But if you forgive me now, I'm heading to the fields. Good day!"

Shen kept asking villagers, but with no luck. Most of them didn't even care to answer after Shen said the word "yorlde" and others simply never saw Kennen. Shen started to feel like as if he is looking for his favorite turtle or mouse, because people didn't really consider his friend any more important than that. Many were surprised that he's actually looking for a yordle while most people try to avoid them. Shen was losing hope, so at one point, when most of the villagers were out on the fields already, he decided to go check around the houses. He really wouldn't have been surprised to find Kennen in a small cage at a backyard by now. He checked every house's garden from a distance, but saw nothing more then cats and chickens. The noxian soldiers started getting nervous and were glancing at him increasingly often. Shen was really disappointed. There was no sign of any of his friends whatsoever and dusk was already coming. He decided to go back to the tavern and continue the search tomorrow. Maybe he will have to use his talents to search houses from the inside. If he still finds nothing, he'll have to move forward assuming that Kennen avoided the village. But it was on a crossroad, which way did he follow then? At that point someone pulled his belt to get his attention. He looked down and saw a little boy standing at his feet.

"Please sir, do you have any food? I'm hungry!"

Shen smiled and knelt down to him.

"How old are you boy?"

"I don't know." - the boy answered with huge eyes fixated at Shen.

"How many winters can you remember?"

"Hmmm, about ten." - answered the boy, then with growing curiosity - "why, how many do YOU remember?"

"Me?" - Shen smiled. He grew up in Ionia where winters were nothing like here. There weren't snow and frost. But he knew the child is ultimately asking for his age so he answered - "It's at least thirty."

"Woow, you're so old. My father remembers about five winters only."

"He must have been drunk on the others." - said Shen - "So about you being hungry, doesn't your mother feed you?"

"No, she doesn't. All of our food goes to Helios. My mother believes it's best. But I'm so hungry."

"Helios? Who's that? Is he your father, or a relative?"

"No, you silly. It's him!" - and the child pointed at the top of the wooden column in the middle of the main square, that had the wooden bird statue on it.

"This Helios is a bird?" - asked Shen. He started to get confused.

"He's the Eagle of Light." - answered the child - "He's very powerful and he protects us if we're kind to him. But he must be getting really fat by now."

"How do you give food to this Helios?" - Shen started to suspect what's going on.

"We burn it. Sacrifice they call it. I don't know how he eats it afterwards but he likes it, because people say he accepted it when everything's fully burned."

"Cáel! Cáel, There you are!" - that was the voice of a middle-aged woman, running towards them - "If you keep wandering off, I'll have to beat you harder next time." - she caught up with them and turned to Shen - "I'm sorry he gave you trouble sir, he's just a bad boy like that, won't happen again."

"He was hungry." - said Shen as he stood up. He looked sternly at the woman.

"Ah, the gluttonous little devil. We fed him yesterday but he's still crying."

"Yesterday?" - repeated Shen - "And you consider that sufficient?"

"We're hardly rich folk sir. If we'd only have more!"

"Yet you still have enough food to burn. I understand why you make those sacrifices, but try to keep up a balance between your child and your god or else he will become a sacrifice himself, starving to death."

"YOU! YOU...!" - the woman's eyes widened in anger - "Don't you have a little respect for Helios?! We have offended him, we let the nonhumans too close, so now he sent the noxian army to get rid of them. We must convince him again that we are worthy! And also, beg for forgiveness!"

"But that doesn't exclude feeding your child at least once a day." - Shen insisted.

"OH MY! What is one child before the mighty Helios, Eagle of Light?! He's not even worthy to be sacrificed to the Lord!"

"I wonder how kids survive around here..." - muttered Shen, then continued aloud - "Does the other villagers believe in this ... deity?"

"THE MIGHTY HELIOS!" - shouted the women - "YES! We all follow his command, you will NOT find any nonhumans unharmed among us! The Eagle of Light only tolerates faithful humans!"

"Then how come he's an eagle? That's not exactly human..." - Shen was getting disgusted.

"BLASPHEMER!" - screamed the woman, pointing at him with her finger - "HE MOCKED THE NAME OF THE MIGHTY HELIOS! BURN HIM!"

With the coming of dusk, villagers were returning from the fields and people started to gather up around them. The woman was totally out of her mind, blazing cheeks and rolling eyes, shaking finger pointing at Shen. Her child so scared, he was hiding behind the ninja.

"HERETIC! You are no different from those dirty nonhumans! Having no respect for the Lord, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

A man broke through the small crowd that gathered and walked up to them.

"I'm the village mayor. Is there a problem?" - he asked.

"Nothing, I'll be on my way." - answered Shen quickly.

"This man here mocked the name of our Mighty Helios and wanted me to stop sacrificing to the Lord!" - said the woman, pretending an offended calmness.

"I only said, " - Shen turned around. He was getting a little angry - "that you should also keep a little for your children. That's all."

"Look sir, I can see you are a traveler" - started the mayor calmly - "but please try to understand that Helios is holy and almighty and you should keep him in the greatest respect you can. These are hard times and we need the support of our Lord, so everyone is free to sacrifice as much as they see fit. Unfortunately we cannot tolerate offenders of the Lord, so I must ask you to leave the village in peace."

"Very well." - Shen looked straight into the mayor's eyes - "I will leave tomorrow. I don't want to be here for the boy's funeral, when he starved to death."

The boy in question started to cry. Shen felt sorry for him, he wanted to help but the child's own mother prevented him from doing so. Now the people wouldn't let him just take the child for dinner to the tavern. It was impossible, his mother was a fanatic, and the crowd backed her up. Shen walked back to the tavern, feeling the woman's gaze on his back, but he didn't care. He entered the inn. As he walked towards the bar counter with Gragas behind it, he saw the man he knocked out earlier, in the company of two musclemen and many empty bottles on their table.

"...and he wore a ridiculous mask like this" - he made an awkward grimace - "I swear if I find im, I'll teach 'im a thing or two. Took three gold coins goddamit!" - and he hit the table.

Shen ignored him and walked straight over to Gragas. The giant dwarf was pretty busy serving all the people since it was hightime, evening after work.

"I'll need a room for today. And I'll pay for it." - said Shen.

"Well if ya so much want to, I won't resist. Fifteen coppers it is. Hey Shen, you look angry. Wha happened, you haven't found anythin'?"

"Yeah, no trace..." - Shen sighed, and handed the coppers to Gragas - "But I wonder how did you get in here. You're a dwarf after all, didn't their bird want to bite you?"

"Do I look like a dwarf to you, even if I am one?" - said Gragas laughing.

"Then a giant, it's all the same for them."

"I guess you met their lil bird too. But ya forget that I brought grog. You give them some good wine and not even Hulos or whatever will care for what the fuck you are. Besides my brewing skills are also much better than the previous tavern keeper's, so dat shitty eagle can't have a word."

"Finally someone speaking sense." - Shen smiled bitterly. - "I'm going to sleep now. Which room is mine?"

"End of the corridor to da right upstairs. G'night. Here, take this bread too. I bet you're hungry."

"Thanks. Listen Gragas, there is boy named Cáel, his mother doesn't feed him because she burns all her food to that eagle. Here's a silver coin, if you see him running around alone, please feed him from this."

"Upholding the balance again? Alright, don't get pushy, I'll do it for you."

Shen walked up to his room and quickly ate the bread he brought up with himself. The room was little with only a single bed, a table and a small cupboard, no other furniture. But this was enough for him, Shen didn't even took his wrist-bracers off, he just lay over the bed and fell asleep.

He had a very strange dream. He was very short, his eyes were at the level of Talon's knees as he walked into the room, holding some crumbled papers in his hand. He held them high and shook them in his hand. "They're here, all here! Ryze didn't notice a thing." Nocturne was sitting behind his desk in his green robe with pieces of yellow armor on it, his wooden staff still in his right hand, and the red-eyed raven on his shoulder. "Excellent work. May I have them?" He crawled closer to the desk and handed the papers to Nocturne. The general carefully looked through them, then nodded and handed it over to Veigar who was standing at his side. "Does this appear to be useful?" Veigar took the papers, looked at them for a few seconds then laughed. "YES! Evil can certainly be spawned from it! Suffering awaits!" Nocturne now turned to him. "Thank you for your work. I will inform Zaun about their newest council tomorrow. And about your money, Talon please, will you be so kind?" Talon walked over to him and thrust his blade right through him. Pain shot into his body as he fell on the floor. Nocturne was still looking at his papers while Veigar laughed horribly. Then Shen awoke. It took him a few seconds to calm and realize where he is.

It could have been around midnight, and one of the houses near the tavern was burning. He quickly got up and ran downstairs. He saw Gragas still behind the counter, just some of the guests have passed out already.

"What's going on?" - he asked.

"Oh, didn't I tell ya?" - Gragas looked at him - "Some of the village youth ran off when the noxians came. Now they play bandits and sometimes raid one of the houses. But don't worry, da bastards never come here because they know they'd meet with the worse end of da barrel."

"And don't the guards do anything about it?"

"They're checking for leftover. These are lazy bastards, so they always arrive late. Now they're searching for any valuables the bandits didn't take for themselves. The houses are far from each other, so hopefully the fire won't spread."

"They don't even try to catch them?"

"Why would they?" - Gragas pulled his eyebrows.

"Alright. Goodnight Gragas." - said Shen as he climbed the stairs back to his room.

The rest of the night was relatively peaceful and Shen could have some rest. There were no more strange dreams or burning houses.

[...]

In the morning he awoke for Gragas shaking him.

"Hey Shen wake up! Come on dude!"

"What's up? What is it now?" - asked Shen between two yawns as he slowly came to his senses.

"A drunken peasant just told me there's an execution going on. Hell it's a "sacrifice to the eagle" but that's all the same. They're killing a nonhuman!"

"Bloody hell!" - Shen immediately jumped up. - "I owe you one for that."

He quickly got his swords on his back and ran out of the tavern, straight to the main square. Gragas didn't lie, there was a tied up brown furred little yordle on top of a pile of wood. The crowd had already gathered they were almost igniting the bonfire already. Shen ran closer and broke through the crowd to see the yorlde. It was Kennen. He was given some toddler's clothes and there was no trace of his original equipment.

"STOP!" - Shen shouted

"SHEN!" - Kennen yelled with his high-pitched voice - "Help me out! Please!"

"It"s the blasphemer again! BURN HIM TOO!" - shouted the woman from yesterday, who was naturally in the first line.

"No one burns anyone!" - said Shen firmly - "This yordle is with me. None of you will touch him. We are leaving together."

"Now this is more than enough!" - the village mayor walked up to him with a pitchfork in his hand. - "That yordle is a sacrifice to the Lord and you will NOT stop the ritual. I asked you to leave kindly, if you refuse to, we'll have to use force."

"I'd like to see you try, peasant." - Shen answered coldly.

"STAND ASIDE, or we'll burn you too!" - shouted the mayor at him. - "You can't stop the entire village!"

"BURN THE HERETIC!" - Screamed the woman.

"I give you one last chance to leave!" - yelled the mayor. - "Then we'll remove you with force."

Shen stood still, solid as a rock. The mayor hesitated then grabbed his pitchfork with both hands. Shen still didn't move. The mayor waited a few more seconds, then defeating his insecurity he tried to hit Shen with it. In just a flash, Shen drew his blade, stepped forward and, while avoiding the pitchfork, stabbed it into the mayor, who groaned in agony as steel penetrated his body. The crowd froze in silence as blood dripped from the blade.

"Anyone else who wants to burn the yordle?" - he asked aloud. - "I'll slaughter the whole village if I have to."

Total silence. No one dared to answer as Shen pulled his blade out and let the mayor's lifeless body fall to the ground into the pool of his own blood. He walked over to Kennen and cut his bounds.

"Come on Kennen, let's get out of here." - he whispered to his friend.


	8. Along the Road

**Along the Road**

The crowd was frozen in silence. Apparently the village mayor did not die immediately, but with a pierced lung, he didn't have much chance. The horrible sight of him, trying to breathe while lying in the pool of his blood, kept the villagers away. The wooden eagle statue motionlessly sat on the top of the column. Many people actually expected it to strike Shen with a lightning, or fire, but that never happened. It just sat there, wings spread, eyes looking down, empty as wooden eyes can be. Seems like he doesn't protect his followers. Maybe he's still angry...

Kennen coughed. The little yorlde was weak, but he smiled. His legs were shaking and he barely had the strength to stand. Shen crouched down to him and picked him up, holding him in both hands. There was no time to waste, the crowd could go mad any time, they had to leave while fear kept them at bay.

"It's alright." - Shen whispered to Kennen - "It's all over now."

Kennen smiled back at him, then closed his eyes.

"Do you know which way did Akali go?" - asked Shen softly.

Kennen slightly opened his eyes, looked around, then pointed at the road leading to southeast. Shen nodded, and stroke the yordle's little head. His fur was a little damp, and dirty. Shen looked back at the village once more as he took the narrow little path leading to the east. He had more than enough of it.

He never understood the hatred towards nonhumans that these villagers held so deeply in their heart. He looked at the tavern once again. Gragas makes the finest alcohol in the land, yet he's a dwarf by nature. Kennen was already asleep in his hands, and he was as cute as any of the human children. Still they wanted to burn him. Their hatred simply held no base. Shen really didn't understand how Gragas could stand this place. Hopefully he can get to Freljord fast, before the villagers decide to burn him too.

As Shen was leaving, he saw that the villagers started surrounding the mayor, who was probably dead by now. If not, then soon he will be. Shen knew exactly that the wound inflicted, although not instantly, but still was fatal. The lung was pierced, and air entered his chest, equaling the pressure of the lungs and the atmosphere. At this point the lungs are no longer stretched by the vacuum in the chest, and they drop to the size of a fist, making breathing extremely difficult, and in the long term, unsustainable.

Shen kept walking on the road, with Kennen in his hands. The lands and fields were still empty, as people were still at the main square. As morning turned into noon, the air warmed up and the gentle wind became much more pleasant. Shen had the chance to see some real scarecrows for a change. In time, the fields went scarce, then finally disappeared. Only the little forest stuck to the right side of the road, with a huge open field to the left, an ocean of grass with a few hills.

After a few hours of walk he reached a shallow little river and an old wooden bridge crossing it. There was also a loan, riverside tree. Kennen was already awakening. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times. Shen walked over to the tree and sat down below.

"Had a good sleep?" - asked Shen, smiling as Kennen crawled out of his hands and sat down next to him, stretching his arms.

"Finally, yes." - he tried to nod and yawn at the same time - "Couldn't get much rest in the village. Those people are crazy there, you know that?"

"I do." - answered Shen - "Unfortunately. Are you alright now? No heavy wounds, are there? Your fur was wet."

"Nah, luckily nothing serious." - answered Kennen. - "But just this morning some damn peasant poured a bucket of water on me. Saying I should enjoy some water before I burn. I think I got a cold." - he sneezed.

"You'll be alright, just meditate a little. The one I taught you heals the body..." - Shen smiled as the yordle turned away, looking down with a suppressed smile - "But you never really listened have you?"

"Honestly" - Kennen looked back with a short laugh - "I'm not someone to meditate. You know that."

"That's true. Alright then, you can tell me instead what happened at the Institute. To you, and to Akali."

"Aaah, that was a mess. I was bored and was playing some card games with Akali while you were out on a match, when they attacked. But I had a bad feeling before it, so I kinda went around the place to see if things are alright. All the champions from Noxus, Swain, Singed, Talon and the rest were in that small hall just around the corner from the main door. It was strange because they never really held open meetings like that before. But then the army appeared out of some strange fog, something like a deception spell, or something similar because we couldn't see them until they were really close. And because my window faces north, I could see the champions just walking out. Swain was already giving orders. I just don't know what were the summoners doing. In fact i still don't know."

"It was a clever plan" - Shen interrupted - "They managed to free Nocturne. He killed the summoners while they were controlling us on the Field."

"He what...?!" - asked Kennen, leaning forward with huge eyes - "And I thought they were in it too... But how do you know?"

"In fact, Nocturne himself told me, so take it for what it's worth. But I don't think he lied. Nocturne may be a lover of nightmares and deception, but he uses ways other than plain lying"

"Hmm... I see." - Kennen kept staring ahead of himself, as he progressed the information. There are no more summoners. No League... just the noxians. - "But Demacia won't react." - he said looking up. - "I overheard people in the village talking about Jarvan III being assassinated. By a women. And I saw them capture Jarvan IV back during the siege. I couldn't see clearly but I think they killed Garen."

"But Jarvan IV is alive?" - asked Shen.

"He is I guess. Why?"

"That's not good. Because Demacia has a king, but he can't give orders. The fact he lives means that Demacia can not elect a new king who would give solid orders, because Jarvan IV is the king after his father. But he cannot give orders, so there is no king who could. The advisors and officers will never get to a conclusion, they're always lost in bureaucracy." - Shen paused for a few seconds - "But enough about that. I want to know what happened to you."

"Well..." - Kennen started again excitedly, seemingly re-living the story - "We immediately packed up all we could and got to flee the place. Akali suggested we go west, to Demacia, because Noxus is exactly crossing the way to Ionia. So we ran out of the building, on the front door, but many soldiers were already there. They were like minions on the Field, Shen, but there were so many of them. We cut our way through but there were too many. Akali fell and I ran away."

"Did she...?" - Shen held back his breath.

"NO! No, she didn't die if that's what you're asking. But she was disarmed and captured. I saw it when I looked back." - Kennen took a deep breath and a drop of tear rolled out of his eye - "I'm so sorry Shen, I left her alone. But when she fell I was certain she died! I couldn't... I had to run."

"It's alright Kennen." - Shen calmed him. - "It's unnecessary to die for someone who's already dead. I know."

"But Akali's alive..." - Kennen looked up at Shen.

"You could not have known that. It happened now, and that's it. What's important is that Akali is alive after all, and we have to find her. These are hard times and everyone makes mistakes. We haven't had a real battle in ages, I guess everyone forgot what's it like."

"Thank you Shen!" - Kennen gratefully cuddled up to him, and in turn Shen scratched his cat-like ears.

"So, tell me what happened next." - said Shen, smiling at the little furry yordle.

"Well there were more coming from north" - Kennen looked back at Shen and continued - "So I tried to get around the Institute, and I came all the way up to this village. But when they saw me, they immediately tied me up and rolled me inside some cellar. Took all my stuff too. I was wounded and so tired. I heard the noxians arrive three-four hours later, and it was probably the mayor's cellar because they were talking about the war. I heard it. That's when I heard about Jarvan III being killed and all. I also heard they were going forward to Bandle City, and they had some prisoner. I think it is Akali. And the next day you came. And you know what you saved me from."

Shen took a deep long breath from the warm noon air, then slowly exhaled.

"Things could be a lot worse than they are." - he said - "We're doing fine, Kennen. We will find Akali."

"That's good." - said Kennen - "but I'm still so hungry..."

He looked up to the sky with a starving look on his face. That is, he would have looked up to the sky if he weren't under the tree. So he looked up to the tree, and joy mixed with excitement appeared on his face. Without a word he darted up the tree, and the next thing Shen saw was Kennen throwing apples down to the ground like a little monkey. The tree was an apple tree full of it's fruits. Shen laughed loudly as the falling apples turned into a smaller pile in just seconds, and for the last one, Kennen himself dropped onto the top of the pile, already munching on some apples.

"We got us some lunch." - he said, his mouth still full of apples - "Come on, take some."

Shen picked an apple from the pile. He realized that he was actually pretty hungry, because he couldn't have anything to eat at the morning. He had to run for Kennen. Apples didn't do much to ease his hunger, but there were many of them, and it was better than nothing. After ten or fifteen apples or so Kennen finally rolled off of the pile and lay on his back, happy from satisfaction. It showed that they didn't feed him back at the village. Ten minutes of rest did it's best to Kennen, who then finally sat up.

"By the way Shen" - he asked - "Why did you take off your mask? You never took it off aside from the only times when the three of us were being together."

"Noxus is planning to invade Ionia. Anyone who could stand against them is hunted. The mask was meant to conceal my face, and it succeeded, so now I can walk safely without it."

"It seems to hide, you need to show your face. Funny. Hey, mind if I take a swim in that river? Doesn't seem too deep."

"Looks safe." - Shen nodded. - "Go ahead, then after it we're moving on."

Kennen walked up to the narrow little river crossed by the old wooden bridge. It was flowing pretty slowly. He dropped his clothes, the little linen shirt and pants, originally meant for children, and walked into the water. It was nice and cool, a bit too cold maybe. He had to wash all the blood and dirt from his fur, after all, he was fighting alongside with Akali at the Institute. That is no clean mess.

After a few minutes of drying in the noontime sun, Shen and Kennen continued their way along the road, crossing the old wooden bridge. The southeast of Valoran was really a beautiful place. In contrast to the industrial north of Zaun and Piltover, the southeastern countryside were peaceful and untouched, although not as wild as the Plague Jungles further to the south. The fields seemed endless, the grass dotted by flowers, sometimes a little more dense other times a bit scarce. Some villages were visible in the distance, and a few lone farmhouses a little closer.

Shen felt a lot better now that Kennen was with him. An old friend, one from their trio was much better than just any champion. Even though Kennen's body wasn't optimal for long journey due to his small size and short legs, the lots of training with Shen and Akali made him able to keep up with them, even on longer distances. He had to learn to control his energy, instead of bursting it, only use as much as is necessary for every step.

"But why did the villagers want to kill me?" - asked Kennen to break the silence of traveling.

"I can't know for sure." - Shen answered - "But I guess it's just that they are simple people. They don't understand the world for what it is. Superstition. They're looking for easy answers."

"So how come that nonhumans became the cause?"

"Maybe because Noxus launched the offensive, and everyone knows Noxus prefers nonhumans dead. Maybe they thought Noxus wants to cleanse the land. And there's that bird, who also hates nonhumans. Having these two together had it's effect."

"I don't understand." - Kennen looked up - "Why don't they simply realize that Noxus wants to gain power? That's what's happening isn't it? Can't they think of such a simple reason?"

"No Kennen, they actually can't." - Shen answered calmly - "As I said, they don't see the world for what it is. They can't imagine the situation with themselves. They're just so far away from ever being granted the opportunity to seize such lands, that they don't know how it feels like, and they can't imagine anyone else being in such a situation. The noxian army to them was like as if it came out of the sky. Of course, people who live closer to their kings usually better understand their motives."

"They're stupid." - said Kennen as he was looking at the road ahead of his feet.

"Well I'm not going to protect them on this one." - answered Shen.

They walked the road the whole day, but didn't reach any stop. Clearly this distance was meant for carriages or mounted travelers. They did find the pieces of a broken carriage on the way, but it turned out to be beyond repair. The woods of the roadside forest started to get a little scarce and Shen decided that they will spend the night in it, a little deeper among the trees. They entered the woods and went deep enough not to be seen from the road.

"Should we do guarding with switch?" - asked Kennen as he was looking for a comfortable place to sleep.

"No, I think we can both sleep. The villagers won't come this far after us." - Shen answered as he sat down at the foot of a bigger tree.

"Campfire?" - Kennen pointed at all the twigs laying everywhere on the ground.

"For what?" - asked Shen - "You've got anything to roast?"

"No." - Kennen looked back with a slight disappointment - "I wish I would. Those apples didn't do much."

"I still have some gold. Got it from a thug in the village." - said Shen - "Next time we reach a settlement we can buy some meat."

"Where did you get it?" - turned Kennen with excitement - "Isn't that mine? I can't imagine how else could gold get to that village. I had some on me."

"Could be" - answered Shen - "What matters is that we have it. But here take a look if you want to."

Shen gave the purse to his friend, who took the gold out and examined it.

"I never valued gold like this before." - said Kennen silently as he held the little gold coin with a small rune marking in his hand -"It was just a toy in the League, but now, hell even our life could depend on it."

"Well yes." - sighed Shen - "No champions remained untouched by the destruction of the Institute. By the way, do you still feel cold? I could teach you the healing meditation." - then he added with a smile -"Maybe you'd actually listen for once."

"Nah, I'm fine thanks. Just wanna sleep." - with that Kennen curled up into a ball and closed his eyes.

"Alright. If you sense anyone's here, wake me up." - Shen leaned against the tree and closed his eyes too.

"Kay." - muttered Kennen.

[...]

Shen awoke for Kennen pushing him. He opened his eyes and quickly got onto his feet.

"Come on Shen! Quickly, up onto that tree!" - said Kennen as fast and as silent as he could.

Without hesitation Shen followed the yordle climbing up to the tree. Once they were crouching on a thicker branch, he finally asked.

"What is it? Someone's here?"

"Something!" - answered Kennen - "Look!"

He pointed at the direction of a small, four legged animal coming their way. It was a deer.

"We can't have such luck..." - muttered Kennen to himself.

"But why would it venture alone to the edge of the forest?" - said Shen. - "Is it possible? It's just a young child what got lost? Or gone mad?"

"Whatever!" - said Kennen impatiently - "Just throw your blade into it. Come on, who cares why it's here?"

"And it will be fun when it runs away with it, yeah? I don't know animal anatomy that much, it just might not kill it."

"Then give me the other, I'll throw it too."

"So we'll be left completely without blades. If it won't die I'll have you run after it."

"Sure! Give it here."

The two ninjas both got a blade in their hands, and took their aim. The deer was standing still, eating grass.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

Two blades hissed through the air and both hit the animal's neck, Shen's a little closer to the head. The animal raised it's head with an awkward move, made a few uncertain steps then collapsed on the ground.

"Let's hope it's mother won't miss it." - said Shen with relief, but Kennen wasn't there anymore. He was already pulling his prey closer to their camp.

"And now we're going to roast you, and EAT YOU!" - he said to the dead animal with huge enthusiasm.

"Alright, it does worth a campfire. Just what the hell it was doing here alone? I can't imagine." - said Shen as he collected his blades - "But we can't eat all of it. There's no time, we must catch up with Akali The easiest way to get food out of it is probably by the upper leg muscles. While you make the fire I'll cut some clean meat out of it."

"Alrighty" - Kennen nodded happily, then he darted off.

With his speed and energy empowered by the promise of roasted meat, he collected a pile of small wood from all around in record time. Then he got two branches and lit fire with it, by rubbing them against each other to generate heat. Needless to say it didn't take much effort to him to rub the branches fast enough for fire to ignite. And because the flames were burning already, he went over to Shen to help him cut the deer into roastable pieces. After they extracted some usable meat they pinned it on some wooden sticks used as skewers and held it above the fire.

"How much time till it's ready?" - asked Kennen after a few minutes of desperate waiting.

"You'll see when it is." - answered Shen with a smile.

"I'm rather interested in how fast you yourself would roast." - said a cold metallic voice .

Kennen screamed and rolled sideway but Shen remained calm. He has already encountered Nocturne before, who, now freed from his chains, was trying his 'unbound wings' with pleasure. This time there was no dark mist, Shen just noticed him floating into his vision with a slice of meat pinned on a branch, as he held it above the fire.

"How ... how did you get here?!" - gasped Kennen. He was so scared he almost hid behind a tree, but gathered his courage and stood still.

"Oh my little hamster.." - started Nocturne with a tone a mother uses to teach her child - "I travel at the speed of thought. I can go anywhere where fear is present in any amount. And you my friend are afraid for Akali."

"Nocturne, forgive me, but you start to be a little boring." - Shen turned to the Eternal Nightmare - "Do you have any specific reason to come? If yes say it, otherwise we'll be moving on. Unlike you it seems, we have things to attend to."

"Boring?" - asked Nocturne after a short laugh - "But look at how excited that little hamster got. He's hardly bored."

"He's a yordle." - said Shen coldly.

"Maybe he is... but You aren't exactly boring either. Wherever you go, death follows. Ever since you arrived back at the Institute, through the noxian camp to the village mayor, you leave corpses behind you. And yet you call yourself balanced?"

Shen looked ahead of himself and took a deep breath. Kennen also realized Nocturne is not about to try to kill them right now, so he quietly crawled a little closer to Shen. In fact his answer to the nightmare's question interested him. It was a long time ago when they could seriously talk about balance."

"You are accusing me of disrupting the balance... " - Shen looked Nocturne in the eye - "But you know nothing about balance. The noxians themselves work against it, killing a few was righteous, for it allows me to to continue working for complete balance, while slowing them in their attempt to disturb it. The mayor's life was a necessary sacrifice. If I don't do something drastic enough to hold the crowd back, they would have charged at us - and then I would have had no choice but to massacre them. The mayor's judgment was clouded by superstition and hatred, unable to make good decisions, his life I exchanged for Kennen, a warrior who understands balance like no other, a member of the Kinkou. That is my answer."

"Ah, balance, Shen, always the balance. You live for it you'll die for it." - Nocturne continued with his freezing voice - "But have you ever considered how cruel it is? Why don't you let people live in joy, and happiness to the fullest? Are you really so wicked, that you would work against a world without evil? Because that's out of balance?"

"You've really never been to the Kinkou have you Nocturne, aside from that pathetic vision back at the Institute?" - Shen replied, along with his characteristic short, dry laugh - "I am working for balance, and evil, being on the edge, is clearly out of it. There is no pleasure in success without challenge, no joy in food without hunger, as it is much better to receive something you didn't already have. That is what balance is about. Just answer me one question Nocturne. How does it feel being free after years of imprisonment?"

Nocturne looked away, but did not answer. Kennen kept staring at him from behind Shen, with wide open eyes, but as Nocturne noticed it the yorlde quickly turned away. He too noticed that Nocturne was nothing like back on the Field. Fear surrounded his being. Shen however kept looking at him, awaiting his response but Nocturne just floated there, roasting the meat on his branch. His face suggested that he really is considering the past few days of his eternal life.

"If you have nothing more to say, then we'd be moving on." - said Shen quietly.

"Clever you are..." - Nocturne looked back at him - "Of course, I won't stand in your way. I hope the rest of your journey will be just as entertaining as it was so far."

Shen didn't answer as Nocturne slowly faded away then disappeared. Kennen came back to the fireplace, and once again sat down in front of Shen. He was still slightly shivering.

"What's got into him?" - he asked with a voice as if he had drank a glass of icy water.

"This is the real Nocturne, unbound by the magic of the summoners. For some reason he takes an interest in me. He revealed some secrets to me back at the Institute, considering the summoners. But I already told you that, so you know it."

"Back at the Fields I considered him cute..." - said Kennen staring at his feet.

"Trying to scare someone but fail doing so is considered cute by many." - Shen replied with a smile.

"At least he left here the meat he roasted." - and with that Kennen picked up Nocturne's branch with the meat pinned on it, that the Nightmare dropped before his disappearance.

"On of the advantages of staying calm is that you don't drop your branch." - answered Shen still smiling. True enough he was still holding his, and the meat on it was getting really nice.

About half an hour later everything was ready and they could finally eat their prey. Needless to say Kennen was fast in that too. Already having finished everything he waited for Shen.

"You know" - he said - "I really liked Nocturne's questions. And I loved your answers. Actually, who would have thought he's the philosophical type?"

"He works in people's minds, toys with them. Of course he is at home in the world of thoughts He just tried to make me uncertain, tried to plant guilt in me. But I know when I make the right decision."

A few hours later they were finished with everything and were ready to go. They had to leave the rest of the deer where it was, for they had no time or means to carry it with them.

In just a few minutes they were back on the road in the blazing sun. They continued to southeast following the road that showed signs of carriage wheels in spots. Hours went by without the landscape changing much. There was almost no wind and the air stood still. Only the flowers moved sometimes, when a fly landed on them. The thin clouds lazily sat on the sky for hours without showing any sign of movement. Leaves hanging motionlessly. The trees in the roadside forest however got even more rare, and at one point, the forest finally ended, giving space for a meadow ahead it. The grass was now a dim-yellowish color, not deep green like around Institute. The heat also rose as noon arrived. There was nothing covering the sun, and the shadows were strong and hard edged.

"Do you know Valoran, Shen? Where are we heading?" - asked Kennen, tired of the long walking.

"This might be the road to Bandle City" - Shen answered - "It's somewhere southeast from the Institute, and probably the only thing on the southern part of the island that would interest the noxians."

"That's good." - Kennen answered between two breaths - "I like Bandle City."

"The noxians are ahead of us. I wouldn't know what to expect."

Kennen sighed. The huge open lands seemed so peaceful and still in the blazing sun. He could hardly imagine any kind of war, looking at the bees and wasps flying all around the flowers and dry bushes. There were even some raspberry bushes scattered around. Kennen was focusing desperately on balanced energy usage so he could walk long distances, but there was no helping on it, he was getting terribly tired. The heat along with the still, motionless air was getting unbearable. He looked up and saw that even Shen was sweating. Kennen felt extremely hot under his fur, and he was thirsty. The bumps of the road were hurting his ankles and the dust was getting hotter by the minute. He had no shoes and every step burned his feet. Now that they left the forest behind, there were only a very few trees standing alone on the meadows, not providing any shade on the road. Pale yellowish grass covered the fields, which were dotted by flowers of all colors from red to blue, all standing still in the lack of wind. The land was mostly silent aside from the flies' buzzing, and an occasional weak breeze rustling the leaves of the bushes every once in a few hours.

After hours of walk they finally came past a small wooden sign indicating that a town is not far from there. They continued the journey with refreshed spirit, although still tired and thirsty body. The heat did not go down, and it seemed as if the air was vibrating from it, especially in the far distance. A tiny wind arrived by the afternoon, although weak, but at least constant. It gave the plants a slight movement, but it wasn't much for cooling, the breeze was as hot as the rest of the air. There were no words between the travelers, their throat was dry enough from the travel alone. In time, the sun started it's way down to the horizon, but it still left plenty of heat behind. The sky slowly darkened from that intense blue it was at noon, as the light got dimmer. When Shen and Kennen finally saw the roofs of the town, the shadows were long and the meadows bathed in the red light of dusk's sun. Even the wind got a little stronger, it's warm air stroking their face.

The town actually had a small brick wall around it, but there were a few houses outside too. There was a small gate on the wall leading inside, with two bored guards in front of it. The houses outside of the wall had thatched roofs and were mostly made of clay and straw mortar, while those inside had brick walls and tiled roofs. Shen looked around but there was no well nearby. They had to find some water in town. As they approached the gate, the guards stopped them.

"Halt! No nonhumans are allowed in town." - said the guard with a bored, but hateful tone.

"Are they for a silver coin?" - asked Shen calmly but hoarse from thirst. The guard looked around, then at the other guard.

"They are. For two coins."

"Here..."

Shen fished two silvers out of his purse, then quickly walked inside the town with Kennen at his side.

"We must find some water or I'm gonna faint." - gasped Kennen, still breathing heavily from the long journey.

"We'll do just that." - answered Shen while looking around - "There must be a well somewhere."

"Let's split up and search for it. We'll find it faster that way." - suggested Kennen.

"I'm not letting you go alone or else some might try to kill you." - replied Shen.

"Since when am I so easy to kill?" - Kennen fought back, feeling a little offended.

"Ever since you're tired from a day's travel. They caught you at the village too when you were wounded. Never overestimate yourself, just as you never underestimate an enemy. We're going together."

"Alright. Just get me some water." - sighed Kennen.

The two started searching for any source of water in town, be it wells, taverns, inns or anything. It wasn't an explicitly big town but it was considerable larger than the village back. It had a lot of cobblestone streets aside from dirt paths. It was late afternoon and people were still getting around, and they all looked at Kennen with a face full of hatred. These citizens also wore slightly better clothing than the peasants in the bird's village. Shen was also looking out for any kind of eagle statue but so far he didn't find any. After fifteen minutes they finally spotted a small well in a house's tiny garden. It had a low wooden fence around it.

"Good enough?" - asked Shen. He was also terribly thirsty - "Private property. Shall we take the risk?"

"Stupid question my friend." - answered Kennen, totally charmed by the sight of the little well - "Look, it even has a bucket near it. Come on what are you waiting for?"

Kennen was over the fence in seconds and already threw the bucket into the well when Shen got there. As soon as he heard it splash, he greedily pulled it out. The bucket was full of water and the little yordle eagerly pushed his face into it. Shen waited patiently as Kennen drank the whole bucket of water and pulled out even more, drinking another half. Then he rolled onto his back and took long deep breaths, with his eyes closed, in the perfect harmony of having just drank liters of water.

Shen smiled at his friend, then also pulled some buckets of water out for himself. Just when he was about to drink the second one, the door of the house opened and a woman walked out of it, strangely familiar. As Shen saw her, he quickly drank out the second bucket too before the woman could insist.

"What on the Stars are you thinking?" - she asked, but stopped looking at them - "Is that ... is that you Kennen?"

"Soraka?" - asked Kennen looking up at her. Indeed the woman had a horn growing from her forehead, but she wore thousands of rings, earrings, bracelets and the finest silk. - "What are you doing here? And what are all those...?"

"I am." - Soraka answered as a tiny smile appeared on her face - "Come on in then, I'll tell you everything. Just tell me who's this man with you?"

"I am Shen, the Eye of Twilight." - Shen introduced himself - "At your service madam. I believe we already met."

Kennen burst out laughing at the formal introduction, and he did notice a smile in the corner of Shen's mouth too. Soraka also laughed, with that warm and friendly voice she always had.

"Ah, you took off your mask. I don't recognize you without it."

"That's exactly why he took it off." - Kennen said, still a bit laughing.

"Come on in then. You're probably hungry. Let's help some poor champions who didn't betray the League."

With that Soraka went inside and left the door open for them. The two ninjas looked at each other, then Kennen got onto his feet and they entered Soraka's new home. The walls were made of brick but there were countless carpets and rugs with all kinds of warm color hanged up on it. All of the furniture were made of a deep brown wood, and along with the many pictures and paintings about stars, nature and rune-like symbols, this gave the house a very warm and friendly feeling. There were a few small plants in ornate vases, all of them blossomed with deep full colors. Soraka lead them up on a narrow wooden staircase. The second floor had a lot of windows, with thick curtains hanging at their side, a soft carpet with some low tables and puffs. Soraka opened a cupboard and put a plate of food on the table.

"It's a kind of special bread from Ionia" - she said as she closed the cupboard - "Come on, don't be shy. It has excellent taste and helps restoring inner peace."

Kennen took one and tasted it. Indeed Soraka wasn't lying, and when the starchild sat down on a puff Kennen already had three in both hands. Shen took only one for first and he also sat on a puff.

"Soraka" - Shen started - "I would have one very important question. Have you seen Akali going through this town? It's possible she was captured by noxians."

"Hmm..." - Soraka looked at Shen - "I think I did. The army left town just a day ago. I did see a woman in their prisoner carriage that resembled Akali."

"And where was she taken?" - asked Shen.

"Well, further along the road." - answered Soraka - "I believe they are going to Bandle City. It's not far from here you know, this road leads exactly there."

Shen sighed.

"And Bandle City has a harbor, right Kennen?"

"Yeah, it has." - answered the yorlde with his mouth full of Soraka's unique bread.

"If they put her on ship we'll never find her. We must catch up with them somehow." - said Shen.

"But we can't go any further today." - asked Kennen with huge eyes - "Can we?"

"No, I suppose we can't. We're all tired."

"Well..."- said Soraka - "I'd be happy to have you as my guests. You can sleep here upstairs."

"Soraka, you're kind as always." - Kennen told him.

"By the way, care to tell us how you ended up here?" - asked Shen.

"Well I suppose I can. We've got time now that you're not going anywhere today." - Soraka started - "So the stars don't tell the petty future of individuals, but they do show huge events that shake the peace of the land. They showed me that the noxians will come, so I left the Institute days earlier the attack."

"Why didn't you stay to help?" - Kennen interrupted.

"Well, I always felt in the League that my efforts aren't respected. I tried to heal as hard as I could but they always just came recklessly back and got all new wounds. And they wanted to heal fast, so fast I couldn't keep up. It would not have been any different during the attack. If I heal someone, that would have been just the reason for them to charge in again and get killed. I was always free to leave the League and so that day I did. I longed for the peace of the southern lands and so I came here, the first bigger settlement from the Institute, but it's not too big for my liking. It's not yet impossible to keep track of people."

"And how do you make a living here?" - asked the yordle.

"Well..." - Soraka raised her eyebrows - "I'm a fortune teller."

"But you just said that the stars don't show the future of individuals." - Shen noted.

"Yes, you see that correctly" - Soraka answered - "But these people here are beyond superstitious. They believe anything I tell them. They don't care that I'm not even entirely human anymore, my mysterious look, and the friendly sanctuary I set up here in my house is all enough for the trick."

"But how do you make accurate predictions? Or you just fool them?" - asked Shen.

"Partly, both" - Soraka replied - "I do have wisdom though. They tell me their problems and I try to find a solution. I know a lot about the human soul, and I can solve many problems about relationships, self respect and the likes. Other times I'm just shady enough for them not to understand, but still feel I said something important."

"Clever." - nodded Kennen. - "I like it. I see you could buy a lot of trinkets from the coin you make."

"People aren't greedy when their fate is about to be revealed." - smiled Soraka. - "But it's time for you travelers to rest. I'll go down and make some tea. I hope these puffs will do for I have no extra beds."

"They're perfect" - nodded Shen.

A few minutes later Soraka arrived with the tea then pulled the thick curtains over the windows and left the ninjas alone upstairs. They kept talking about things for some time, about Akali, the noxians, balance, but then they really grew tired. Each picked a puff, lay on it and closed their eyes. A few minutes later however, Kennen asked with a sleepy voice:

"Shen, mind if I sleep on your puff? It feels so lonely here..."

Shen looked up and smiled at his companion.

"Sure, come." - he said softly.

Kennen hopped to the floor and toddled over to Shen in the darkness. Shen helped up the yordle near him, and hugged Kennen as he cuddled into him before they fell asleep.


	9. Crossing

**Crossing**

Kennen awoke and opened his eyes. He saw the ceiling of the house, with tiny little glowing stars, probably silver, hanging from it. He quickly realized he rolled off the puff he slept on. He yawned and climbed back onto it, but noticed that Shen was no longer there. He blinked a few more times and looked around in the room. He finally saw Shen in front of the window. He was on his knees, hands on his legs, eyes closed, as the soft shadows of the leaves from a tree outside played on his face. Steady breathing and solid, balanced position, indeed Shen was meditating.

Kennen tried to sleep a little more, after all they only slept for about six or seven hours after a whole day of hard walk but surprisingly he felt no need of it. Must be that Ionian bread Soraka gave them, for he felt happy and healthy, full of energy. He lay there for a few more minutes then decided it was time to get up, and he jumped off the puff. Shen was still meditating, and Kennen decided to sneak up behind him. With slow and cautious steps he approached the ninja, barely making a sound. He wanted to see if Shen will notice his presence. Just when he was in touching distance he prepared to cover Shen's eyes, but as he moved, Shen, without turning his head, caught the yordle's palm with his thumb and pointer finger.

"Naoooo..." - Kennen sighed - "hah... I can never do it."

Shen released the yordle's hand and put his own back on his leg. He took a few deep breaths and opened his eyes. There was something, as if a slight yellow glow, after meditation Shen's eyes were always filled with wisdom and confidence. He slowly opened his mouth and answered.

"It is because you're not trying at the right time. There is no other time when the ninja is more vigilant, than during meditation. You sense the whole world around you."

"I never do." - said Kennen as he turned and climbed back onto the puff - "I always get bored and my limbs are aching."

Shen smiled. He too knew that the little yordle was way too energetic to master the art of complete control over body and mind during meditation. His time of control was of during motion. Because of this he never really forced Kennen to meditate with him and Akali but of course the yordle tried it, again and again, and Shen valued that, though he focused a lot more on control during motion when he prepared Kennen to his initiation into the Kinkou.

"The sun dawned, it is time to go." - said Shen as he stood up. - "We will thank Soraka for her kindness, and then take our leave."

"We won't have to walk whole day again, do we?" - asked Kennen, a little unmotivated at the thought of another full day on the road.

"No I do not think so." - Shen replied - "Bandle City should be close now."

"I just hope it's in one piece" - said Kennen quietly as he stared at the little silver stars hanging from the ceiling.

Shen gathered up his equipment and went down the stairs with Kennen. The morning sunrays cast through the windows of the house, reflected from the glittering necklaces, rings and bracelets of Soraka, sitting by the kitchen table with a mug of tea and a book. The smell of mandrake burning in a small lantern filled the house. Soraka looked up at them as they approached. Shen spoke.

"Soraka, I thank you for you hospitality. However there are urgent matters requiring our attention. We shall take our leave, and wish you the best of fate."

"Akali, is it?" - asked Soraka softly - "I understand. It was a pleasure helping old friends. May the stars guide you."

Shen bowed shortly, then turned around and walked to the door. Kennen waved a "goodbye" to the healer and followed his companion. They stepped out into the cold morning air of the town. There were only a very few people on the streets in these early hours. Shen wanted to leave town as soon as possible. There was no need for more conflict between him and the residents over his little nonhuman friend, best if they just quickly disappear. Shen guessed at the direction of southeast from the rising sun and began searching for the city gate.

They walked the streets among the houses, sealed doors and closed windows everywhere. The little bumps of the cobblestone roads turned into small ponds of water probably during a rain in the night, as a thick fog also descended into the wet air, floating above the streets like the gloom of the city itself. The little town was much unorganized, crooked streets, sometimes narrow sometimes wider, as blocks of houses were placed totally randomly around, reflecting the unprepared and nonprofessional foundation and architectural planning of the settlement. The clocktower in a square, that proved to be the biggest so far, has just hit five in the morning as Shen and Kennen got past through it. It only took a few more minutes to find the city gates opening to the road towards Bandle City.

It was smaller than the northern gate which through they entered town while heading south. This time there was only one guard around, tired and fretful, muttering to himself.

"...dammit I hate this weather, just fucking hot yesterday, barely not melting in my armor, then goddam rain comes and an it all goes to shit so now here I am in a freezin' fucking morning choking in this fog..."

Shen approached the City Guard but motioned for Kennen to stay just a little behind.

"Open up the gate, good man." - he said - "I'd like to leave town."

"Well then ya'll have to wait." - growled the guard at him - "Door's closed till sunrise."

"Then look up at sky. The sun already dawned." - Shen replied calmly.

"Dog's balls I don't give a damn. Orders are, I gotta wait for the bell. Then I let people out, go where they fucking want to."

Shen thought for a moment. Akali could be put on a ship anytime, there is not a moment to waste, especially not an hour. They could climb the city wall, but that wouldn't be easy. But Shen thought of something.

"I have a yordle friend with me. He'll be leaving town too, so you'll have one less nonhuman around here. Who knows if you won't offend the gods by keeping him in the city. Would you risk a curse on yourself?"

"You're bluffin, where's that furball, lemme skin it!"

Shen motioned for Kennen to come closer. The yordle caught up with him and looked at the guard. Pitiful being, wouldn't be a challenge - he thought.

"Here he is." - said Shen - "But one touch on him and you'll be rather begging for the curse of the gods. We're leaving together."

"Dammit, alright get this shit out of the city." - the guard angrily opened the gate, helping it with a kick - "The mere sight of it makes me sick."

The ninjas quickly exited through the gate as the guard spat on the ground, showing his immensurable disgust. Matters not now, as they were on the road again in the foggy, cold and wet morning. The dirt road became all muddy during the night, and Kennen still had no boots. The sticky wet mud quickly covered up the fur on his legs, but so it did with Shen's boots as well. The endless meadows were now all covered up in fog, and not much could be seen in the dim morning light casting through heavy and thick rain clouds. It appeared that this cold front has just caught up with them during the night.

As they walked the wet muddy dirt road to southeast, the fields disappeared and gave way to forests on both sides, which soon became dark and dense, casting heavy shadows onto the road. After a few hours a strong wind awoke, cold and aggressively blowing into the face of the travelers. The sticky wet mud glued all the leaves and tiny thin branches to Kennen's foot and Shen's boots, but there was no point in cleaning it, for there was plenty of more mud and leaves on the road. It wouldn't take minutes to get dirty again. However it did make walking slightly more difficult. All of the path's bumps now turned into ponds of water, some of them so deep that it reached Shen's knees. Of course Kennen had to go around all these for he didn't want to get wet to the neck, but over time it actually started to mean a considerable extra distance, doing all those walkarounds.

And then the last thing they needed also arrived. It began to rain. From all those dark, heavy clouds that so threateningly followed them for hours, water started pouring down almost with the intensity of a waterfall. It seemed the clouds decided they were muddy enough and needed a shower, but instead they just got soaking wet all over, and the road became literally flooded with water and mire.

"Are the noxians playing with magic..." - muttered Kennen, with his hands wrapped around himself, tumbling in the dense mud - "...or just nature gone mad? We almost got boiled yesterday."

"Talking about weather usually means you're out of other subjects." - Shen replied with a smile.

"OR IT MEANS, that you are covered in mud up to your hips, you're fur is soaking wet, you're cold to the bone, and if you don't tumble over the mud the wind does it for you!" - Kennen replied resentfully.

"I guess it's normal." - Shen answered - "Storms in sea strikes in seconds too. On those open meadows we just left behind, the wind can move without obstacle. I guess the warm air rose yesterday and now this cold wind is quickly taking it's place, coming from the open fields."

"Ouch!" - yelled Kennen - "Something hit my head! What the..."

Shen stopped for a while and held his hand out into the air.

"Ah, damn. It's ice. We got ourselves a hail."

Ahhh, great." - Kennen let out a hopeless sigh - "Please, can't we wait in the forest till it ends?"

"We shouldn't" - Shen looked into the yordle's eyes, although through the fog and rain that was between them - "If our estimation is correct, Akali is in Bandle City by now. She can be packed on a ship anytime. We must not delay, for if the ship leaves she is most likely lost to us."

"Alright." - said Kennen reluctantly - "But at least we should walk in the forest. The trees would at least provide some cover."

"Well..." - Shen dropped a glance on the woods - "It's the same as muddy, and we'll fall over the roots and bumps. The road is relatively flat compared to that."

"But I don't want to stay out in this rain. You could wring water from my fur, it's ridiculous. And this ice knocks out my eye. Come on..."

"Okay. We'll be slow both ways, so we should just get moving. If it's the forest you'd like then so be it."

And so Shen and Kennen entered the forest to hide from the rain, and instead face the lot more difficult terrain. They had to go around huge trees while crushing through stinging, sharp bushes, jump over the enormous roots of the huge trees, cross ditches and smaller pits, all the things that are in a forest. At least the trees did protect them from some of the rain, but it mattered little now, for they were already soaking wet, there was no way they could have gotten worse. There is a point where you just can't get any more wet, and Shen and Kennen reached that point back on the road. There was no specific path and going forward was painfully difficult, especially for Kennen. After an hour of desperate tumbling and climbing and pushing forward among the bushes and tree branches, the little yorlde finally dropped.

"I can't go on any further." - he gasped out of breath - "Please let's stop ... just for a little at least."

But Shen didn't answer. His attention was focused on a nearby bush. He noticed something unusual around it, maybe just a small forest animal, but one must be vigilant in times of war. As an answer for Kennen's questioning look, he pointed at the place. It did move slightly again. Shen drew his sword, and waited, prepared for any attack. Kennen also stood up and went closer to take a look. Nothing happened for minutes.

"Just an animal..." - whispered Kennen.

Shen sighed and sheathed his blades.

"Alright. Time to get moving. Please Kennen, Akali can't wait."

Kennen sneezed and gathered up himself. Never before he had to travel this much on foot. He was used to quick bursts of fighting not days of journey. All his muscles felt stiff and ached. They already started to get going when a small yordle ran out of the bush they were watching previously. His fur was light brown and also wet, but he wore professional yordle sized equipment, a few smaller bags on his belt, and a little yordle bow.

"Master Kennen!" - he shouted - "Is that you? And master ... Master Shen?"

"Yes .. who, who are you?" - Kennen yelled back as Shen stopped, seeing the yordle running towards them.

"Kennen! Kenny! You must come with me! Captain's orders!" - heaved the little yordle - "I was told to look for any yordles coming home."

"Captain ... you a scout? Wait, it's you Rolly? Bloody hell, mate it's been so long!"

"Kenny, yeah it's me Rolly. I almost thought you won't recognize me! I'm so happy to see you! But you won't get to the city. There's a blockade and a quarantine. Captain wants to see you!"

"Care to introduce us?" - Shen asked his companion - "I believe I haven't yet met the young scout."

"Oh sure, yeah, Shen this is Rolly. We grew up together, shared all our tricks and pranks. Best friends we were. Well, at least until I joined the Kinkou, then I couldn't see him much. He became a scout when I left." - then Kennen turned to Rolly - "Which captain you serve under?"

"The most famous one brother" - Rolly answered with a happy grin - "It's Teemo. Well, but he's practically the only Scout Captain left."

"Teemo?" - Kennen laughed - "That's not something to be ashamed of for sure. You must have climbed the ranks."

"Can't deny. I turned out to be an excellent archer." - smiled Rolly - "But come now. The captain awaits. Follow me to the camp."

With that Rolly darted off to lead the way, and Kennen immediately ran after him. Shen also followed them, although he didn't need to run, because of his tall human nature he took the obstacles a lot easier. Rolly seemed to know the forest perfectly well, he always found the way among the thick roots and bushes, skillfully going around deeper ditches or larger rocks. After fifteen minutes of going deeper and deeper into the forest, finally the sight of an encampment appeared.

It was set up completely among the trees. Around the edges there were wooden platforms built around the trunks of the outer trees, at the height of a few meters with yordle guards patrolling on them. Rolly waved a hand at them and they waved back as a sign that they are allowed in. They went further into the camp. There were many poorly established tents made of old linen material, lots of crates lying around, planks and tools, bows and other weapons. There were some targets set up for archery practice. The place was full of yordles, most of them wearing scout equipment. Many greeted Kennen and Rolly, and took a good look at Shen. At one point Rolly stopped.

"So, welcome to the Resistance! We set up this camp after the attack on the city."

"This place is pretty huge, how did you set it up in a single day?" - asked Shen.

"Single day? What are you talking about? It's been a week since the city was overran."

"But... the army was in the city to the north just a day ago..." - said Kennen with a frown.

"Well I don't know about that, must be a different unit. Anyway, wait here Kenny. I'll find Captain Teemo for you. I'm sure he'll be pleased to see you."

Then he went away at the direction of the only full built wooden house of the camp. Shen took a deep breath and sat down on an old rag nearby. He didn't know if it was the right decision to follow the yordle to this camp. They could be losing crucial time in reaching Akali. But if the blockade is real, then maybe only these scouts can get them into Bandle City. But will they? Or they want something else perhaps? But then Rolly appeared, coming back.

"Captain Teemo can't receive you right now. He's working on the plans of an operation with the other officers. Once the meeting is over you can see him."

"Oh damn, but won't he come out for an old friend?" - said Kennen - "Come on, maybe if we'd ask him ourselves?"

"Well you can try but I don't think he'll come. He's really busy."

"Got to try, we've got no time to waste" - said Shen as he stood up - "Thanks anyway Rolly."

"No problem, it'll only be a few hours anyway." - the little scout answered - "Come on Ken, I'll show you around the camp. Or you'll coming with him?"

"Need me?" - asked Kennen looking up at Shen.

"I'll manage, thanks." - the ninja replied.

As Rolly and Kennen ran off Shen made his way to the wooden shack. He had a little time to look around. He didn't notice when he first entered, that the camp had an entire second level, constructed on the trees. Little wooden platforms nailed into the trunks, connected by rope bridges, a bit like many treehouses just without the walls and roofs. They were just as untidy as the base except for the leaves and branches, with sleeping bags, rags, weapons laying aimlessly around. The tents were old and dirty, full of patches and holes, torn in many places while broken bows and darts lay around, blood stained yordle shirts among the dry-rotten crates and planks. The yordles looked tired, as if they haven't slept in three days. Many just lay around the camp motionless yet breathing. No surprise, they just escaped death then they had to build up this camp. There wasn't much talk between the scouts, some regular conversations about how bad things are, silent painful groans of the wounded, or just tired, exhausted sighs.

There was a small flag in the middle of the camp, a painting on a linen rug, with a simplified image of a fist stomping the ground which shatters, and the word "Resistance" under it. As it was swaying lonely in the rainy wind, it hardly reflected the actual moral of the camp.

Shen reached the wooden shack were the meeting was held. There was a little sign above the door "Cpt. Teemo" written on it with crooked letters. There was also a guard sitting in front of the door with his back against the wall, his eyes closed, dried blood on his fur and a bandage on his shoulder yet he was strongly hugging his little bow to his body. As he heard Shen approaching, he shook his head and climbed back onto his feet.

"I'm sorry" - he said - "But if you're looking for the captain, he's unavailable at the moment."

"I'm an old friend from the League. Please just tell him that and see if he comes out."

"I'm sorry sir, I can't." - the tired yorlde guard replied as he blinked a few times - "The captain is receiving no one until the preparations are finished. You'll have to wait."

"How long till the meeting ends?" - asked Shen.

"I dunno sir. A few hours maybe."

"Thanks. I'll be back." - answered Shen as he walked away.

Things didn't look good. He has to waste hours in the Resistance camp while Akali could be loaded on a ship any moment. But there was simply nothing to do, Teemo's knowledge could prove priceless, and with the blockade and quarantine, Shen's entrance into the city also depended on the scouts. Unable to do anything useful, Shen decided to look for Kennen. He searched for the way up to the camp's higher platforms and found a wooden ramp nearby. It led to a rope ladder leading up to the tree-height platforms. Shen climbed up, looked around and spotted Kennen a little farther away. He crossed a few rope bridges, which wasn't easy for they were yordle-sized. Kennen was sitting near his friend and they were chewing some kind of herb. Shen sat down near them. The sight of the forest was mighty from this high.

"Hey Rolly, mind if I ask a question?" - Shen interrupted the yordle's talk. The light brown furred turned to him.

"Sure, what is it?" - he asked.

"Tell me about Bandle City. The attack. How did it go. We're looking for a friend there. I'd like to know our chances."

"Yes, Kenny already asked me about that, but sadly, it's a very short story so I'll tell you too. We took positions on top of the houses at the northern gate, ready to shoot darts and arrows. So the noxians catapulted the entire front of the city. Only a few survived. We couldn't even shoot a single arrow. Teemo was the only Scout Captain who ordered his squad to stay clear of the houses. He knew noxus wouldn't face us, but rather destroy the city with us in it. I was lucky to be under his command. We stayed close, if by some miracle we would have been needed, but it quickly became obvious that we don't stand a chance. We escaped to the forest. Now, as far as I know we'll try ambushing supply carriages so we can recover a bit. Many citizens fled Bandle City, so we're also providing some safe heaven for the refugees. Reports say even after a complete victory, they still kill yordles, unarmed ones. Those who stay take a great risk. But not everyone's ready to abandon their homes."

"That's sad." - Shen said, then continued - "I'm looking for a specific prisoner taken to Bandle City by the army. Know anything?"

"Teemo has the full reports. Ask him."

"I'll do that. By the way, what's that herb you're chewing."

"It's a local" - answered Kennen instead - "We ate a lot of it when we were just kids playing around the forest. It has a calming effect. They use it in the hospital too."

"You mean here in camp?" - Shen asked.

"It's a small field hospital. The largest tent around the back of the camp. Take a look if you like. I think I'll stay here with Rolly, finally we have some time to talk like we used to."

"I'll do that. Maybe they can tell me more about the battle. See you."

With that Shen left the two yordles alone and climbed back onto the ground. He looked around the camp, searching for the hospital. There were many tents, and not just a few wounded lay below the trees, but he couldn't spot any explicit hospital. It must be even farther than the Captain's Shack, that's the only place he hasn't been so far.

The resistance camp wasn't really small, taking into account that the battle only took place a few days ago, it was a considerably large and well built encampment. The fencing wasn't yet ready but constructions seemed to have already began. It's just that all the yordles were so beat up, and their numbers were few. Maybe twenty or thirty, probably just Teemo's unit, a few survivors and the refugees. As he walked past the wooden shack where the meeting was on, a yordle nearby who was sitting in front of his tent asked him:

"Traveler, did you bring any food with yourself? I'd go out into the forest to scavenge for some fruits, but I don't have the strength anymore."

Shen stopped and looked at the yordle. He was thin and looked tired and hungry, like all the others. It looked as if even his fur lost a little from it's color.

"I'm sorry" - Shen answered - "I only have a few coins but there's hardly anyone here you could buy from. Isn't there any food in the camp?"

"Unfortunately no." - the yordle answered on a weak, quiet voice - "We could grab little when we moved out. Then we needed the strength to work, building this camp up. We don't have much left, if we can't loot anything we'll starve to death here. And that is only us, not the refugees. Many also require medication."

"I'm just looking for the hospital. Can you tell me about this camp a little? And how do the refugees find it. I have time anyway. For now."

"Well, the original Scout Encampment was just outside of the City. Captain Teemo had us positioned there in case the rooftop ambush would succeed, so we could give support from the flank. But it all went to hell. I guess the Captain counted on it, he didn't let us die on the rooftops."

"Yes, I heard the story."

"When we saw there's no chance, we packed up whatever we could, supplies, goods, weaponry and headed out into the forest, but these bastards were already looking for us. We were ambushed and barely managed to escape. A lot of cargo was lost. We set up the camp deeper eventually. The work took all our strength. Now the Captain organized patrols to scout the area, both watching for noxians and refugees. We find those who run into the forest and help them. Just for how long? We did set up guarding posts on the trees and we're building a fence, but if the army finds us, we still don't stand a chance. We'd have to run again, and we wouldn't survive that. We're already out of supplies."

"I see." - said Shen - "I hope you'll succeed in capturing some noxian goods. Is that what's Teemo working on right now?"

"Yes, I suppose. It is our only chance to get some food unless we want to grow crops in the forest. It's very important that a viable plan is made."

"Makes sense. He doesn't receive anyone right now."

"I just hope we'll live..." - sighed the yordle - "I'm so tired."

"I'm really sorry I can't help you." - Shen paused for a few seconds - "So the hospital is further to the back."

"Yes, you'll find the refugees there."

"Thank you."

Shen continued his walk in the camp. Behind the Captain's Shack the tents lay more densely, and there was a longer one among them, probably the field hospital Kennen spoke of. This was most likely the refugee's section. As Shen crossed among the tents, he could see these yordles didn't have scout equipment, but rather normal everyday clothing, although torn and dirty. There were also women and children among them. Shen never really saw yordle children before. Many were still crying, asking when can they go home, or get something to eat. A lot of the kids missed one or both of their parents too, and just lay around the tents, sneezing occasionally. Some of the tougher ones though already stopped crying and played around with some sticks, using them as toy swords.

Shen made his way to the field hospital and gently pushed aside the hanging linen garment serving as the door, when he entered. The smell of disease and festering wounds greeted him. Yordles were laying on rugs in lines to the end of the tent. There was only one nurse, wearing a torn medical cloak that had blood and all other body fluids on it. Seems the nurse had a lot of work. The moans and breaths of suffer filled the place. When Shen entered, the nurse was putting a bandage on a yordle's leg, but she asked:

"What do you want? I have a lot of patients so if you're injured or your friend is, you'll have to wait."

"I'm only looking to talk to the wounded." - Shen answered quietly - "They might know something that could help me."

"Can't you see they're crippled? This isn't exactly the time."

The nurse turned to face him as she finished putting on the bandage. Shen almost didn't recognize her without her hat and fancy robes. It was Lulu, the only yordle healer in the former League. She had huge purple circles below her eyes. Probably she was the most restless yordle in the entire camp, because there was no other healer or medic. Her eyes barely open, hands and cloak covered in blood. Shen decided he won't stress her with his own identity for now, he'll just ask a few questions and leave.

"Are these yordles from Teemo's squad?" - asked Shen.

"No, Captain Teemo is an excellent man, he managed to save his unit from a lot. These are mostly refugees and survivors from other units. I just don't know how long will they survive."

"Aren't you Lulu? A recently joined champion?" - Shen asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Alas, the League didn't last long for me." - she sighed, and put cold cloth on the forehead of a feverish yordle - "But at least here I'm doing some actually useful work, instead of mindless slaughter. Although for how long I cannot tell, for there isn't any medicine and I'm running short on herbs. The scouts collect it for me, but they have to go deeper and deeper into the forest for it, and it's getting dangerous. They bring less every time.

"Please, I would really need to talk to someone who witnessed the attack. Someone conscious."

"I know not where they come from or what they saw, I just treat them for the best I can."

One of the yordles, who, judging from the wound on his head and body seemed to be injured from shrapnel, pushed himself up in his bed and said.

"I saw the attack, master." - he coughed - "What can I tell you?"

"I'm looking for a prisoner who was captured before the attack. A young woman, a champion. Have you seen her?"

"I don't remember ... when they marched into the city, yes, they had some chained up people. There were women among them too, but I can't tell you more."

"Thank you."

Now Lulu turned to Shen:

"So, will you let the patients rest now?"

"Where's Pix?" - Shen asked instead. He noticed the little fly wasn't around.

"He remained in Bandle City to gather intelligence. He'll never be caught and he can see a lot of things."

"You could always go back to the grove." - said Shen quietly.

"I could, but I'm needed here. Not half of these yordles would live to see the next dawn without my aid. And still, there are so many I can't help. They die in my hands... They call this Resistance, but all I see is us bleeding away here."

"That's the life of a healer, especially in wartime. I won't keep you any further. Farewell."

Shen left the field hospital to let Lulu get back to her work. The little medic was tired, but just as Shen, she had no time to stop. It must have been an hour since they arrived in the camp, and Shen decided to take a look at the Captain's Shack. Maybe he can finally get the information he needs. He walked back to the little hut, and saw that Kennen was already waiting for him. The guard also disappeared.

"I was looking for you. Teemo will hear us out."

"Alright" - Shen nodded - "Let's see what the Captain has to say, and what can we make him say."

The two companions opened the door and walked into the hut. It really did resemble a general's office, well a poor general at that. There was a table in the middle of the room with a map on it, the only chair was the one Teemo was standing in front of, while his officers stood around the table. The map appeared to describe Bandle City and it's surroundings only, but there were many other letters and parchments on the table. Swords, nets, bows and other weapons and equipment hanged on the wall, with a sack in the corner and an open chest, probably Teemo's personal belongings inside.

As Shen and Kennen entered, Teemo noticed them. The captain had a cold, emotionless expression on his face, and he was covered in light leather armor up to the shoulders, with few steel reinforcements on the gauntlets, knees, belt and spaulders. He also lacked the fancy feather from his hat, and instead of darts, he had a short sword on his side.

"Then it is settled" - he told his officers - "We'll take the risk, it's our only chance, but we're prepared and able. But as you can see I have visitors. You may leave."

"Yes sir!" - the officers answered, then left the shack after a quick salute. All three of them took a good look at Shen.

"So..." - started Teemo as he sat back onto his chair after the officers left - "I did order my unit to look for refugees, but you hardly look like ones. What do you want?"

"We're looking for information about a certain noxian prisoner, held by the army that attacked your city. Also we would like to ..." - said Shen but Kennen interrupted.

"Don't you recognize us Teemo? We're your friends from the League, I thought you'll be happy to see us, not like 'what do you want...' Really now."

"The League is no more." - Teemo answered as he crossed his arms - "But you're right, I am happy to see you. Although this time it has nothing to do with friendship. I am in need of people with your ... abilities."

"We are not mercenaries." - Shen answered the captain - "If you're looking to recruit us, you might as well forget it right now. We have important matters that can't wait. I'm merely looking for a few answers."

"Then it seems like we're arriving at a deal." - Teemo replied, his eyes fixated at Shen's eyes - " For I have important matters at hand, and yordles depend on it. If you intend to just take some answers and leave, you might as well forget it, because YOU came to me."

"You'd only need to tell us a few things."

"Information is as valuable as time." - said Teemo coldly.

"Then let's talk. What is it you would ask for in exchange?

"We are preparing for a dangerous mission. As you've probably noticed around the camp, we're all out of supplies. Intelligence suggests that there's a noxain war camp on the southern end of the City, and supplies looted will be transferred there this noon. We will ambush the carriage and take the cargo home. It's that simple."

"And our role would be..."

"Close combat." - answered Teemo quickly - "We lack the means to defend ourselves at close range. But I hear you're quite effective at that."

"Alright." - said Shen after a moment's hesitation - "But it will cost you. And not just information. You will help us bypass the blockade. You must know some way into the city."

"That I do. A classic solution, a tunnel into the city. I can show you it's location. So it's a deal?"

"Yes." - answered Shen - "Just keep in mind we're no soldiers. We are not part of your unit. And now in advance, you can tell me about Akali. I know she is a prisoner of the army that attacked the City. What do you know about her?"

"Well you've came to the wrong man, friend." - answered Teemo as he stood up - "I saw nothing of prisoners. I only have a single intelligence report, that they do have a champion restrained. That's all I can tell you. And Kennen, go to the armory and get geared up. I have no use of you without proper equipment."

With that Teemo walked out of the shack, leaving them behind. Kennen muttered something about "It's a different Teemo at war..." then with Shen on his side, he also left the Commander's Shack. Teemo started gathering up his squad around the "Resistance" flag. Tired, hungry and wounded yordles lined up before him, readying their weapons. Kennen went off to find the armory, which probably wasn't more than a few crates laying a little closer to each other than usual.

Shen had still nothing to do, but had enough of exploring the suffering in the camp. Instead he stayed and watched as Teemo gathers the warriors he was supposed to protect. Teemo held some speech, about understanding his soldiers hunger and that this mission aims exactly to help on that, while also putting some regular "the fate of the world is in your hands' into it. Kennen soon returned, finally dressed in proper yordle's equipment. Just like Shen, he rather prepared for travel than war, picking only a few pieces of leather armor along with linen shirt to keep weight and free limb movement optimal for long journeys.

Then it turned out that they are only going half an hour later, because the trap makers did not return yet. Teemo ordered target practice for it, but the poor yordles rather spared the strength of pulling the bowstring. It only had one positive side and that is that the rain has subsided by then. Then the trapmakers finally appeared at the camp and Teemo ordered to leave.

Shen and Kennen joined up the unit going into the forest. Teemo led the squad, going ahead. There were six other yordles plus the ninjas. It was clear these yordles were trained by the captain. Even from this close up Shen almost lost sight of them multiple times as they moved in the forest, blending with the environment, though partly because Shen was also tired and stressed from all the helpless waiting. The forest terrain wasn't easy, and the rustling leaves didn't make sneaking any easier. Supposedly there were noxian units searching the forest, looking for any yordles hiding nearby. The rumors soon turned out to be true.

"Enemy patrol dead ahead!" - whispered Teemo as they spotted unknown people ahead of them - "Hold your position."

The whole squad froze, and anyone who could, moved into the cover of a bush. Shen hid behind a tree. It was only two noxian soldiers heading their way. It didn't look like they're taking their job very seriously. They dangled their halberds around, trying to cut off the bushes while talking quite loudly about the lack of wenches and that yordles are not good enough to plough.

"On my mark..." - the captain whispered.

The soldiers changed subject and started talking about the many ways of cooking and preparing a yordle. They were getting closer but they did not notice the squad hidden among the trees.

"Steeaaady..."

The noxians were now only a few meters away from the squad. Not even a tired yordle misses that.

"Get 'em." - said Teemo, and with that, arrows and darts hit both of the noxian patrolling soldiers, mainly targeting their neck though some went astray. Still it was enough to kill the guards and they fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Excellent. Keep moving."

The little squad went on forward and after a few minutes they reached the edge of the forest without any further problems. They were just outside the city walls of Bandle City with a road going ahead of it. The tree's branches slightly reached above the road, which was covered with fallen leaves, maybe a little too densely.

"We dug ditches and covered them with leaves." - whispered Teemo to Shen - "Ancient, but effective. Will do for now. Your job is to protect the archers at all costs, understand? We can not allow any more losses."

"Good enough for me." - Shen answered - "Let's get those yordles back at the camp some food."

Kennen also took position, but he joined the ranged unit, for he was skillful with a shuriken, and although he found only throwing knives back at camp, they still did the job. After ten minutes of painful waiting they finally heard a carriage approaching. As it got closer Shen could see that it really was carrying crates and cargo. It appears Noxus did not expect an ambush, for the carriage was alone and with only a few guards. The man guiding the horses didn't even look at the road. The trap worked beautifully, the right front wheel fell into the ditch and the carriage got stuck.

"FIRE AT WILL!" - roared Teemo - "Shoot! Kill them, goddammit!"

The six little yordle archers gathered all their might and precision, and shot their arrows. There were four noxians on the carriage, one at the front with the horses and three at the back. Sadly, the assault was unorganized and the soldier at the front with the horses got two arrows in him and one missed near him. Out of the remaining three only one hit it's target and the other two managed to jump off and crawl under the carriage.

"Damn" - cursed Teemo - "We'll have to get in there and kill them up close before they can call for support in any way. Shen get ready!"

Teemo jumped off the tree, and his squad followed him. They carefully approached the wagon. Although they knew they cornered the noxians, they might still manage to take a kill, and that was not affordable. As they came closer, it turned out that yordles are small enough to shoot under the carriage while crouching on the ground and that solved the problem with the death of the two men. Unexpected, but lucky.

Teemo jumped up onto the carriage to check the crates. It was part of the loot from the old scout encampment, just outside the city. It contained some yordle's equipment, armor, ammunition and a few sacks of long-lasting bread the scouts took for expeditions.

"Alright Teemo..." - said Shen - "We completed our part of the deal. Now get us inside the city."

"I thank you for the favor. You and your yordle friend did a great service to the Resistance. With this food and supplies we'll have the strength to venture out collecting herbs and berries. It is only fair I keep my end of the bargain. There are several tunnels leading inside the city, one begins at the old scout encampment, but that is probably well guarded now. There's another south of here, but reports suggests the noxians made camp just there. However I do know of a huge tree which's branches reach over the city wall. Follow me."

Teemo led them over to a tree a few kilometers away after he ordered his squad to take the cargo back to the camp. The tree had lots of thick branches and was easy to climb. Kennen went up first and Shen followed him. As Teemo described, one of it's longer branches extended over the city wall. Shen bid farewell to the yordle captain, then jumped onto one of the rooftops from the branch. Kennen already awaited him down on the street.

It was a sorrowful sight. Smoke still emerged from many of the ruins and most of the houses had their walls down and crushed. Noxian flags were often seen planted into the ruins and lots of streets were blocked by barricades. Brick, stones, tiles and debris filled the city. Otherwise the place was crawling with noxian soldiers.

"My ... home." - said Kennen quietly.

"Don't worry Kennen. Those who did this will pay. But to punish them, we must find Akali first. We can't do it without her."

"Let's go then! I can't wait." - Kennen replied with voice as if almost crying.

"We wasted a lot of time at that Resistance camp. It would be a miracle if Akali would still be in the city. We must search for any clues she left, any record they kept about her."

"I know! Let's try the embassy." - Kennen suggested.

"Good idea. You know the city, lead on."

The houses of Bandle City were surprisingly small to Shen, of course he knew the reason for it, but it still seemed so strange, as if the place was only inhabited by children. However, as the League was established and yordle champions grew in number, the city got more and more human visitors and therefore some inns and other buildings were build with exactly humans in mind. Such building is the embassy for instance.

Ignoring the sorrowful sight the city gave in it's current state, the travelers went to the embassy as fast as they could, trying to stay out of the way of soldiers. Once a great yordle city, however not many yordles could be seen among the ruins and smoke now. One of the guards stopped them as he saw Kennen.

"What is this disgusting furball of yours doing here? I'll kill it straight away, stand aside please! None ignores the quarantine."

"Wait a moment good man!" - Shen quickly responded, pushing Kennen a little farther from the guard - "He's a political prisoner, I'm taking him for questioning. We just found him in the woods."

"It's NOT a he, it's an IT!" - yelled the noxian - "And don't forget to kill it once it spitted out everything."

"Thanks, but we might need him later. See I'm just a hired mercenary, not part of the army, as you can see on my clothes. I don't know much about here, where should I take him if we need him alive? You mentioned a quarantine."

"Well, any pests left alive are to be taken to the harbor district. They're closer to the water where we'll throw them into eventually. Now off with you, merc!"

"Aight, see you."

And with that Shen quickly hurried away, dragging Kennen with him. The yordle was still stunned at how he was treated in his own homeland. A few encouraging words from Shen were able to shook him back to reality and they hurried to the embassy, Kennen leading the way again. They didn't want to play the game over with another guard again, neither had they time because of Akali. After a few minutes of running they reached the central square where the embassy was. The sight of gallows greeted them, with many many yordles hanging on ropes, their corpses rotten, flies gathering around them. Shen recognized one of the convicts hanged as Poppy. He touched Kennen's shoulder and pointed at her.

"A great way to demoralize the city" - Shen whispered - "The ambassador to Demacia. A sign that the Lightshields can't help."

"Goddamit" - muttered Kennen.

"Let's go. I'd rather not see Akali the same way."

They were lucky, because the embassy had a narrow alley behind it. They hurried in before any guard could bother them. It was clear they can't enter through the front door, they would never reach any actual information, besides Kennen would be attacked instantly. However the embassy was an ornamented building with many ledges to grab. They decided they would climb in at one of the windows. Kennen's been into the building a few times and he knew the offices were at the second floor.

Shen found himself a stable point and began climbing with Kennen after him. He helped the yordle occasionally when a gap was too great for him. At the second floor, Shen peeked inside the window while Kennen watched the streets for any guards that would enter the alley and happen to look up. The office inside was clear so Shen quickly broke the window and climbed inside, pulling Kennen up after him. Clean white walls, quality wooden parquet and red carpet on it, chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There was a desk in the room with a great many papers on it, a halberd put against the wall in the corner and a chainmail thrown at the chair. Seemed that noxian officers just took over.

"Quickly Kennen, cover the corridor while I look through these papers." - Shen whispered.

Kennen slightly opened the door and looked around the corridor.

"All clear" - he said - "I'll keep a look out."

Shen started searching among all the letters and parchments, official reports back to Noxus, casualty reports, personal letters to other officers, diary about crew morale, registry of squads and units, reports from their leaders, but nothing about Akali.

"Dammit, there's nothing here. Still no one around?"

"A guy walked over but he entered another room" - Kennen whispered back - "Found nothing?"

"It doesn't seem like we're at the right officer." - Shen whispered back as he searched the drawers and chests for even more letters.

"The little sign at the next office says 'Logistics'. Wanna try that? I didn't see anyone coming in there."

"Sure let's go."

And with that Shen left the desk in total chaos of thrown around letter, and joined Kennen looking at the corridor. Kennen pointed at the door that had the 'Logistics' sign above it. Still no one on the corridors so they quickly darted into the other office.

"What the..." - started the officer who was already inside, but Shen reacted too quickly and knocked him out before he could finish.

"That was close." - he said - "Now watch the corridor again, someone might have heard it."

Shen started searching through the papers of this room. Supplies, provisions, weapons registry, loot log, and he finally he found it, prisoner account. He quickly ran through the document, it stated, that "... and as that, the important political prisoner was successfully extracted out of town."

"Someone's coming!" - Kennen whispered.

"Lock the door, quickly, he might think the officer's not here."

Kennen did as Shen asked him. The guy knocked on the door.

"Sir, may I come in?"

Shen quickly read over and over again the part which mentioned the important political prisoner, but it said nothing more than that she was taken out of town. That's all. The guy grew impatient.

"Sir, please, this is important! Open up!"

"Got what we wanted?" - whispered Kennen excitedly.

"Yes, she's out of town already. Quickly to the harbor, leave this sucker here."

Shen opened the office's window, however this window looked at the main square.

"Bloody hell! No matter we'll quickly climb past the corner, it will be safe from then. Follow me."

Shen climbed out of the window and got to the corner as fast as he could, then climbed over it so he was no longer on the front wall. Kennen quickly followed him. Incredible luck, but no one looked up at the building and they managed to get back on the streets unnoticed. Shen saw that accidentally he brought the letter with himself. But whatever, he knocked out an officer, it'll be noticed anyway.

"Now Kennen, let's go to the harbor, quickly! If Akali was only shipped away recently someone must have saw her. Come on, lead the way!"

"Alright, follow me."

And Kennen showed the way to the harbor district, running ahead of Shen. Even though the city was in ruins, Kennen still recognized the paths, though some of the alleys were blocked by collapsed buildings. They tried to stick to narrow streets and darker alleys to avoid attention, and they successfully made it into the harbor district.

Now that they were in, Kennen needn't hide anymore for yordles were still allowed in this district of the city. As a result they could run on the shortest path to the docks. Bandle City's harbor was actually pretty large for the size of it's residents, six ships docked at the moment. It was the poorest district of the city, with stone houses on the inner part but wooden shacks closer to the water. Tiled roofs also seemed to be rare around here. Shen spotted an old yordle with grayish fur, and according to the stereotype, he must have been a veteran on seas. He quickly came up to him and asked:

"We're looking for the harbor master. Do you know where he is?"

"Yerrh boy, it be me" - answered the yordle. The stereotype proved to be rather effective.

"An important prisoner was taken out of town recently. Have you seen her on any ships?"

"No sir, I would nay think so. None ship with noxian flag sailed out lately. But sailing is not the only way of leaving town. There be caravans on the northern part of city."

"What do we do know?" - asked Kennen - "Is it still possible she was shipped?"

"This doesn't make sense at all. Why wouldn't they put her on a ship?" - muttered Shen.

"Well, good sirs." - the harbor master interrupted - "If yay lookin for a hardy ship, the last one takin peasant folk and citizens is sailing out in two hours."

"WHAT?" - Shen gasped - "Two hours is the last ship out of here?

Shen stopped for a moment, his eyes anxiously looking around, thoughts chasing each other in his head. Akali must be on a ship, there's no reason for her to be sent on caravan. Unless..."

"Where is that caravan heading?" - he asked quickly.

"Up north" - answered the harbor master calmly, even enjoying the funny situation a little.

"Great, that doesn't make sense at all."

If only the caravan would have been heading further south or to the west. Maybe they would have wanted something with Akali there, but if it's going north, then it's the League, or further up Noxus. And Noxus even had it's own harbor, ship was easier and faster. Why didn't they put her on a noxian ship taking her straight to Swain in Noxus? Still these two options remained, either caravan or ship. If it's ship, they have two hours to go after her, therefore within two hours they have to decide which way they go.

"Kennen, it seems we're at a crossroads, with little time to decide. Akali is either taken by caravan or ship. You must go north and look around the caravan camp, ask people and find out if Akali was taken there. I'll look for a way to find out if she was shipped. We have two hours, otherwise we can't follow her on ship, and I DON'T think she's taken by caravan, but we shouldn't take any chances."

"Alright you've got that. I'm off. Take care."

The old yordle harbor master laughed as Kennen charged away but Shen didn't care for him. How the hell he's gonna find out if Akali was shipped? Where could be the information? The harbormaster's shack maybe? That's a good place to look once you're looking for the exact ship that took her, but until it's not even sure she was shipped, it's a waste of time. What else, maybe the embassy? Akali was already mentioned to the officers there, and the information seemed confident for they didn't share much detail.

Where could be the important people around Bandle City? Come on ... Yes! Teemo mentioned a war camp just south of town. If any general is here who knows about prisoners he'll be there. Just how to get inside? Shen looked at the paper he accidentally took from the embassy. He noticed an important detail on it, a genuine seal. Yes, that will be his key into the camp. He'll act as a messenger sent straight from Noxus.

Shen darted off to the southern district of the city. He ran as fast he could, not even caring for the guards calling after him. It took him about ten minutes to reach the city walls. It seemed though that the city had no southern gate. Shen took a few deep breaths and looked around a little, but he only found solid wall, ruins and yordle corpses.

Alright, back to that house with the branch above it, Shen still remembered where it was. He quickly ran from street to street, alley to alley, square to square until he found the little house. He climbed up to it's roof and caught the branch that extended beyond the city wall, pulled himself up and climbed down onto the road outside the city. The carriage Teemo and his squad looted was heading this way, and it headed towards the noxian camp, so Shen just kept following the road.

Fifteen minutes later tents finally appeared before his eyes. He ran closer, and determined to himself that indeed, it was a camp for leaders. It was small and the tents were fancy, large and ornamented. Of course there were still plenty of guards and they wouldn't just let him walk straight in. Nevertheless he tried.

"Stop right there" - a guard yelled at him. - "No passage! Officer's camp!"

"I have important news from Noxus" - gasped Shen, trying to make it look like as if had hurried here all the way from Noxus alone - "I'm a messenger. The fastest around, so I got the job. I am to deliver this to your leader!"

"What's that?"

Shen showed him the letter with the official seal on it. He held it together and luckily the soldier was dump enough not to notice that the seal was already broken up.

"Looks genuine. Alright, follow me."

The guard led Shen to one of the larger tents around the back of the camp, shouted in "it's a messenger, boss!" then left him alone. Shen entered it, bowed and held the letter so the general inside could see it.

" I see." - said the fancy dressed noxian officer - "So what do you have for me?"

In just a flash Shen drew one of his blades, jumped to the general and held it strongly against his throat.

"Death." - he said - "Unless you tell me very quickly where is the "political prisoner successfully extracted out of town" this letter mentions. And don't even think about calling for help, I'll kill you before they get here."

"You won't get away with it! I promise you won't ..." - groaned the general.

"Maybe I won't, but you'll die before you'll see it." - said Shen coldly, and held the blade even tighter against his neck, slightly cutting it.

"Ghahh, damn it, you bastard. She was taken to the harbor that's all I know. She was to be shipped. But I don't take care of stuff like that."

Without answer, Shen punched the noxian on the cheeks, knocking him unconscious. He sheathed his blade, put the letter on the desk and quickly threw the body onto the bed in the tent. Then he exited the tent, and headed to out of camp with rather fast steps.

"You in a hurry?" - a guard stopped him - "What did the commander say?"

"Ohh, ah, well, he got the letter, and hmm, he wrote a quick answer, and I must deliver it quickly."

"The commander can write? Last time he still had a scribe for himself."

"Well, he learns rather fast, and did not want to depend on someone else. But if you'll forgive me, I'm in a hurry."

And with that Shen quickly took off and left the suspicious guard alone. They probably figured out what happened very quickly, but by that time Shen already climbed back into the city and was running towards the harbor. Now that he knew Akali was shipped he only needed to find out what ship they put her on. And most importantly where it headed. Again, he ran all the way back to the harbor, although he was getting a little tired and got lost multiple times. It was almost his first time in Bandle City.

Eventually he made it back into the harbor and began searching for the harbormaster's office. In just ten minutes he found it, it was a small shack, the closest to the water, and the grey furred yordle was sitting in front of it, smoking from a pipe. Shen quickly walked up to him.

"How much time till the ship launches?"

"Ooh, ye've got a good half of an hour yet. Yer friend was looking for ye, by the way."

"Where is he?

"He's waiting for you by the ship."

"Great. By the way I saw they are messing up with the crates on the ship at far end of the docks. Wrong crates. Thought I'll let you know."

"Bloody... how many times must me tell them?!"

The grey furred yordle angrily got up from his chair and and headed towards the ship Shen pointed at. The one the farthest away. Shen quickly went inside the house and started reading the logs. Cargo uploaded to the battleships, warships, merchants trading with Noxus, anything that could have had a noxian connection to it. He looked over all the logs he thought Noxus might have something to do with but found nothing. He was getting desperate, as he could see the harbor master was already coming back from the far end of the docks.

But it was exactly him who said that no noxian flag sailed out lately. Maybe it was a private ship. Shen quickly took the logs of ships that had no connection to any organizations or trading leagues whatsoever. After a few minutes of desperate searching he found it, "woman prisoner, champion, handle with care ... 1" under the cargo log of the ship Fortuna Mayor that sailed out just yesterday to Bilgewater.

He quickly got the logs back into order as much as he could and climbed out the little window, as the grey yordle was already too close to just walk out the door, for he would have noticed. Now that he successfully made it out, he headed straight for Kennen with the good news. He was sitting by the docks near a small, beat down ship, the Salty Fish. He sadly looked up at Shen.

"I found nothing. I guess we'll have to take the ship then. It's going to Bilgewater. What about you?"

"Bilgewater?" - Shen asked back. He couldn't believe his luck - "Well I just figured out that a ship called Fortuna Mayor took Akali, and guess what, it sailed to Bilgewater!"

"Bloody hell, that's awesome!" - Kennen yelled in joy - "I almost though we'll never see Akali again."

"We will find her, my friend, we will." - Shen answered, also laughing from joy - "When is the ship sailing out?"

"Just about now. Look, there goes the captain. Let's get onboard."

There was a lazy sailor guarding the ramp leading up to the ship. When Shen and Kennen approached him, he told them what he told everyone who wanted to get on the ship.

"Five silvers, and it's to Bilgewater."

"This is for both of us." - said Shen as he handed him a gold coin.

"Bilgewater it is then." - said Kennen happily.


	10. Destination

Destination

It was a torture, really. As the earlier storms escorting them to Bandle City had passed by, the sun found it's strength again. It was blazing so hard Shen was actually afraid that the dried planks of the ship will catch fire. That is, if it doesn't sink before. Every time he walked on the deck, the planks cracked sounding like they're just about to give up, and it creaked every time a slightly larger wave hit it. And if that wasn't enough, the wind died down hours before. It felt like as if they were motionlessly floating on a dead pond, with the sails hanging lifelessly from the single mast of the ship.

The Salty Fish itself was a small fishing vessel with really not much free space on it. But of course in these times transporting refugees was a much more profitable source of income than fishing, since a fish usually costs five to ten bronze coins a piece, while the refugees practically pay as much as they can to escape the city. No wonder, since noxian soldiers were very keen on slaughtering yordles.

As of that, most of the passengers were yordles fleeing Bandle City, the last ones who could somehow gather up the otherwise ridiculous price for the trip to Bilgewater. Why Bilgewater? Two simple reasons, for once it's not under noxian influence, for second, it's close. Yordles taking the caravan to the north have to travel for days only to arrive at a settlement still on the mainland, and therefore under noxian control, and with a good chance of having a Helios statue at the main square, and all the consequences of that. Still, the journey to Bilgewater was no joy trip either.

"How long 'till we get there?" - Shen asked the captain, who was actually a human, perhaps just from Bilgewater, to fill his pockets by shipping refugees.

"Depends." - came the answer from the salty old seaman. Shen waited a few more seconds, but the captain had nothing more to say. Instead, he slightly turned the shipwheel.

"On what?" - Shen asked after another few seconds.

"Wind of course." - answered the captain and continued to stare at the horizon.

"Come on, you must have some estimation. Days, months, years? It can't depend on the wind if we get there in this year or the next. How long does it usually take?"

"In a hurry?" - asked the captain slowly, still not looking away from the horizon. Then he took a few deep breaths of the salty ocean air.

"Please answer." - said Shen calmly - "We've been out for a day. How many more will it take?"

"If the wind stays like this then as much as you want. Until you decide to swim."

"I'm asking for serious." - answered Shen with a smile. He didn't allow the captain to anger him.

"Should be there by evening." - the old seaman finally blurted out.

"Thanks. See, wasn't that hard."

Shen walked back to the front of the ship, where he found Kennen lying face down, motionlessly on the deck. He walked up to him and gently poked him with his feet.

"I know you're alive." - he said quietly - "Cap says we'll arrive by night. Probably."

Kennen slowly moved his limbs then sat up. He had a tired, crabby expression on his face. The ocean didn't take him lightly, but especially not the day-long idleness.

"So cap ain't thinking the ship will sink, huh?" - he asked with a hoarse voice.

"Nope. Cap's been sailing this ship for years."

"All the more he'll be surprised."

Shen sat down next to him.

"Just hold on for a little longer okay?"

"But damn, it's sucking the life out of me. Hey, I already know the story of every single one of the refugees here on ship. Wanna hear some?"

"Spare me."

Shen knew the ship was crawling with yordle refugees, and their stories are probably all very similar.

"Because there weren't anything else to do around, really, than listen to them."

"Told your own story as well?"

"I ain't stupid." - grunted Kennen.

Shen leant against the low wall of the ship and closed his eyes. The heat was intense, and the sound of the ship floating on the ocean was very repetitious. At least since Kennen stopped being sea-sick he had some more peace. Funny thing though, that there were no food on the ship at all. The captain had some bread and fish for himself, but other than that there was no cargo. No one mentioned getting onboard comes with a two day starving. At least one of the yordles brought his old fishing rod and caught a few ones, mostly for himself.

"Mother nature's a bitch you know." - said Kennen - "I'm thirsty like a fish on dry, and I'm actually floating on an ocean of water, but guess what, can't drink it."

"I'm sure mother nature meant it as a personal insult towards you."

"Aren't You thirsty? There's no fresh water on ship."

"I'll manage." - answered Shen.

"I hope we'll get to Bilgewater soon. And because of the water, not the bilge. Actually, why aren't there noxians yet? They could have assaulted it already if they wanted to."

"I think they want to establish a solid empire on the mainland for first. Every island and peninsula comes after, so they'll have stable reinforcement and supply lines. And for now, that includes Ionia."

"And is that good for us? I mean that they are waiting."

"Well, it depends. If they manage to create a stable empire, then no. If they control the mainland and have no trouble at home, Ionia will hardly stand a chance. But if we manage to do something useful by then, we might even prevent the entire war. So it all depends on us."

"You mean us, personally?"

"Anyone, really. Anyone who can shut them down before they attack. Once they control the whole mainland as an empire, Ionia is as good as a province."

"A-ha. Then let's hope the others will do something while we're away looking for Akali."

"You mean we should leave her and head straight to Noxus?" - Shen raised his eyebrows.

"No way. Really. I'm just hoping others won't sit idly by either. Besides, we all stand a better chance if Akali is with us. I wouldn't go to Noxus without her."

"Right then."

Shen closed his eyes again and relaxed, sinking into the world of his own mind. But just before that, he heard Kennen dropping back onto the floor with full weight again.

[...]

Eventually Kennen shook him out of his meditation. When he opened his eyes dusk had already engulfed the sky around him. He looked around the ship and noticed that everyone was staring ahead, to the point where the ship was heading.

"Would you look at that!" - whispered Kennen.

And indeed he was right. As Shen turned around, two fireworks shot out into the darkness and soon exploded, filling the night with orange and blue lights. And where they came from, was actually Bilgewater, the harborside.

Everything, even the ships included, had dozens of small lamps on them, lamps that shined with colors of great variety, from yellow to green to blue to orange to purple and red. The docks were decorated in a venetian style, flags, ornaments and colored cloth hanging from all the buildings, from ropes hanged between small wooden columns or the palms and tropical trees, and of course from the masts of the ships. Soon, two other fireworks shot, illuminating the night with red and green this time.

As the ship got closer, Shen also noticed the dozens of tables all around the docks, and the huge crowd that gathered. The sound of laughter, music and yelling also got stronger as they approached the island, filling the warm, nice fresh air of the southern island.

"Wooow..." - whispered Kennen as they sailed past an enormous ship, lit by all the various colored lamps on it, the wind gently blowing the flags on it's side - "They do know how to live..."

The Salty Fish finally hit the pier and Kennen, being at the very front of it, was the first one to jump out of it. Standing on the docks, he was still astonished by the sight of the Bilgewater carnival, pirate songs mixed with muffled voices from the crowd filling the docks. Shen climbed out of the fishing boat and stood next to him.

"I guess this night we won't be searching for Akali..." - he sighed with a smile.

"Shen, we've been on the road for days, not to mention the shipping, and all we found was suffering and destruction everywhere. It's reeally time to have some fun. You deserve it too. You need it too."

"Ah well ... okay, I guess." - answered Shen after a few seconds - "So where do we go, hm?"

Kennen's answer was suppressed by another shot of fireworks, covering him in yellow light for a few seconds.

"I said let's take a look at that ship" - he repeated - "That huge one over there."

Shen looked around and noticed the ship Kennen was pointing at. Indeed, it was a large piece of boat that dropped anchor in the middle section of the harbor. As they walked on the docks, they noticed that there were many little games around at certain tables, lightly organized events ranging from drinking contest to card games.

"Bloody cheater! There's no way you could get that!" - bawled a man at a table filled with cards.

"Your scurvy mother's the cheater, scum!" - yelled back the other sitting in front of him.

He tried to draw his sword, but he sat too close to the table and didn't have enough free space. It was at this point when the other man leant forward to grab his head with both hands and smashed it into the table, cards flying in all directions. But Shen no longer watched.

They arrived by the ship Kennen was curious about. The harbor was practically full, though this one stood out from the lot. It was beautiful, triple masts, double decks, thirty-five cannons and steel hull reinforcements on both sides. Of course, this giant was decorated for the occasion as well, perhaps with the richest array of adornments. On it's front, beautifully curved golden letters wrote: "Saltwater Scourge".

"So it's actually a ship. I mean the Saltwater Scourge." - said Kennen - "This is where Gangplank took his title then. It's his ship. And damn what a ship it is."

"Impressive, indeed." - nodded Shen - "And this means he's in Bilgewater right now. Probably he is, at least. Now all we have to find is the Fortuna Mayor."

"The what? You mean huge luck? True, that's always handy, but..."

"No, it's a ship. The Fortuna Mayor took Akali here. It's private property, meaning not an army ship, bur rather a pirate ship. And it definitely should be in this harbor right now."

"Well then, we're in luck with this carnival. Everyone's drunk as hell, so we can ask around and won't have to push too much for information." - Kennen nodded.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go and ask those sailors. With a bit of luck we can find some serving on the Fortuna Mayor." - Shen added with a smile.

And so the two companions entered the array of tables and stalls that formed the center of events. Although Shen enjoyed meditation more than huge parties, it was still better than the dead city of yordles, and besides it made him remember the Ionian seasonal festivals, which he always attended with joy along with the other ionians. As for the dead city, it's population seemed to have been gathered all up here. There was a dazzling amount of yordles in this pirate carnival, and most of them happy and drunk.

The pirate music, the lights, the grog, and the games filled the evening with joy. Pirates and yordles were sitting at the same tables or watched some of the events like throwing knife competition with open betting. Some of the others were betting on which pirate can balance an egg on the flat of his cutlass for longer while walking circles. This task was a lot more difficult then it seemed for first, because the floor was wet from all the eggs dropped before, not to mention it's really hard balancing something when you're drunk. A little further was the traditional 'fish the apple out of the waterbarrel only with mouth' game, but there were a few dead people around it who seemed to have suffocated. Maybe a coincidence, but maybe someone pushed their heads into the water and kept it there for too long. Who knows. Anyhow, for people who had enough of games there were plenty of stalls offering all kinds of pirate liquor, lots of places to sit and drink, while a little further away from the docks towards town, mutton, lamb and turkey were roasted on open fire. For a few copper coins you could get any of that, or if you wanted some more, all the town's taverns and brothels were open night-long.

"I think we should split up." - said Kennen as they arrived at the core of the festival - "We could really cover more territory."

"Good idea." - said Shen as he avoided a drunken sailor falling onto the planks of the dock just near him - "I'll take the side closer to town, you can stay here in the harborside, if that's fine."

"Kay. Let's meet at midnight. Any idea where?"

"How about the Saltwater Scourge? We can sure spot that monster from any part of town."

"Allrighty." - said Kennen, then disappeared into the crowd.

Shen, now alone, took a look around and decided to go give those roasts a check. He walked past a few tables and soon arrived by the fires, set up on an open square in front of the coastal taverns. There were five fires altogether, but they were big enough for more than one chicken at a time to be fried. The raw meat was packed in crates a few meters behind. Some people were sitting around the fires though most of them rather took the tables. Shen approached a pirate who was turning the turkeys above the fire.

"Good birds aren't they? How much for a leg?" - he asked.

"Five coppers. They were plundered from the finest trading ships. You won't find better in Bilgewater." - and with that he took one off the stick, cut the leg around with his knife then tore it off and handed it over to Shen in exchange for the coins.

Shen took a good bite of it and indeed, it tasted heavenly. He was really hungry from the two day long ship journey all without food, and the good leg of turkey in the warm, smooth night of Bilgewater was really a treat. He picked a table with the fewest drunken sailors by it and took a seat there. The others didn't seem to bother, so after a few more bites he decided it's time to ask around.

"Hey guys, just arrived from Bandle City. What's up with the party? I mean what for?" - he asked, putting away his natural way of speaking. He didn't want to get down to the Fortuna Mayor straight away.

"For the pirates!" - yelled the one sitting next to him.

"Hell yeah!" - bawled an other one - "We'll set sail this weekend. It's been so damn long."

"Going hunting again?" - asked Shen.

"Bloody right mate. Finally, the noxians showed those purple robes the way out. It was impossible to board a trading vessel before, or those cockheads came showering magic on your arse. But it's ALL over now, time to sharpen the sabers!"

"Well then, let's drink to that." - said Shen and poured some wine from the jug on the table into an empty tankard.

"Aye!" - the sailor raised his mug with respect, then drank it all out.

"For the pirates!" - the example was followed by the other one.

"Ahh, nice one." - Shen put down his tankard - "Hey, I'm looking for a friend of mine, an old sea dog. He serves on the Fortuna Mayor that should have arrived yesterday, or at least a few days ago. Care to tell me where's the ship?"

"You weren't that late. It actually came early this morning. But the crew's staying on ship, well most if it. Anyway, it's docking a good three hundred meters from here, to the southeast. Close to the Crushed Skull tavern."

"Thanks. I think I'll just go and check it out."

"Right. One last on the hunt."

"Cheers."

Shen drank his wine then stood up and headed for the direction the sailor showed him. Just as he walked among the dozens of tables again he noticed an interesting yell.

"Anyone else betting against the furry little one? No? No more?"

Shen turned towards the voice's direction, and he saw Kennen on the shoulder of a huge, heavily muscular pirate who stood next to a target, throwing knifes sticking out of it's center. There was a small crowd around them.

"Do we have a champion?" - he shouted - "Anyone else wants to bet against him?"

"The rat's a cheater! The knives are weighted! Give me my money back you scum!" - yelled a dirty looking man from the crowd.

"The rat used MY knives, besides you can't weight them like dice, you idiot! It has to be balanced, you scumbag, not weighted!"

"Is this balanced enough for you!?" - the man drew his pistol and shot at the target.

Although the bullet didn't hit the center, the wooden piece still broke and fell from place. Someone from the crowd however didn't miss a punch at the cheek, knocking out the gun waving troublemaker. Two others grabbed the unconscious body and threw it off the pier into the sea.

"So the winner is this furry little yordle!" - announced the huge pirate that carried Kennen on his shoulder - "Who's buying him the grog?"

Shen smiled, then kept walking after he witnessed the little scene. So it seems Kennen wasn't exactly doing his job, but well, who'd blame him? He's just like that. He's good with a shuriken, and probably wanted to look for information, but just couldn't resist the throwing knife contest. Let's hope at least he made some money.

After a couple of minutes Shen was back in the harbor checking the ships. The port was literally full of ships, almost not a free space, only some for the smallest of them like the Salty Fish which was now tied to the shore with a rope. He started checking the names of boats close to the Crushed Skull tavern and soon found one with the inscription "Fortuna Mayor". It was a fast looking frigate, single deck and two masts, floating peacefully on the water with rolled up sails.

"Fortuna Mayor..." - Shen thought - "Fortuna Mayor. Why does that sound so familiar to me? Fortuna Mayor, Fortuna ... Miss Fortune? Is it her ship? She's probably the only female captain around here. Let's see."

Shen approached the sailor guarding the ramp leading up to the ship.

"Is the Captain onboard? I'd like to speak with her."

"A-a. Nay sir" - came the answer - "She wasn't onboard during the last trip from Bandle City. We'll meet 'er here."

"Ahh, might as well leave it. Thanks though." - Shen replied. He just didn't want the sailor to report his question.

Shen walked away, and made his way into the Crushed Skull tavern. So this guard confirmed that the ship's captain is indeed female. Now there really aren't many female captains running around, so it is very likely Miss Fortune. Even the ship's name indicates that. And also, she wasn't onboard when they took Akali here to Bilgewater from Bandle City. Now would Miss Fortune want to take Akali anywhere further? To Noxus? No, the army would have taken her there already. Then what? Ionia? Simply no reason. It appears Bilgewater was Akali's final destination. And that means Akali will be loaded off ship and taken somewhere inland.

Shen entered the Crushed Skull. It was a small tavern with many rounded wooden tables, the air filled with smoke. There was a different pirate music playing here than outside. Shen was hoping to find more members of the Fortuna Mayor's crew, but instead he recognized a very familiar pirate playing poker at one of the tables. It was the captain of that massive boat outside, the Saltwater Scourge. Gangplank.

Shen started to think. Actually, Gangplank and Miss Fortune are sworn enemies, so fighting one of them opens room for alliance with the other. Gangplank could indeed help, just how to tell him?

"Another bastard" - said Gangplank as he took aim and shot one of his poker partners - "I don't like the way he mixed those cards."

Shen took the opportunity and walked over to the table, grabbed the corpse and pushed it off the chair.

"May I join?" - he asked, standing next to the now empty chair.

Gangplank looked up at him, then the chair, the body on the floor then again at Shen.

"Sure, why not. Just don't mix as badly as him."

There were three of them now, Shen, Gangplank and another pirate who was mixing the cards, with great care of course. Soon Shen received his cards.

"Thirty copper for starters. I won't rest 'till I win!" - Gangplank smashed the coins on the table.

"I heard you like risks" - said Shen looking at Gangplank - "Be it seventy."

"Maybe I do. Holdin' and I'm raisin' to a hundred" - Gangplank answered.

"I just happen to have something for you. A little risk's involved but you can win off a lot from it. Like a hundred and fifty copper. Holding?"

"I'm out" - said the third player.

"Really? How about two hundred and you tell me more?"

"Two hundred." - Shen placed two silvers on the table - "And I'll tell you when we're alone."

Gangplank pulled a gun from under his coat and shot the third player before he could stand up from the table. He noticed the pirate reaching for his gun, but it didn't help him, he was too late.

"So, we ARE alone now, by the Sea Devil! What is it? Yer got me curious there."

"It's Miss Fortune. She received a gift from Noxus, a prisoner. Akali by name. Or at least that's what I suspect. Akali was taken prisoner by noxian forces during the siege but she arrived here to Bilgewater as prisoner on the Fortuna Mayor. That's Miss Fortune's ship right."

"Aayy, the bitch owns that dry-rotten piece of rowboat. But I'll have her once, and send her to a visit to the depths of the sea!"

"So, if I'm correct, Noxus wants Miss Fortune to control Bilgewater. Simply because, unlike you, she can be bought off. Akali is a gift to sign the alliance between them, so that Miss Fortune will owe a favor."

"Akali as a prisoner aye? Nasty piece of work could that be, she was a sharp fighter. But what the bloody hell does Fortune want with her? I didn't know she was into chicks like herself." - Gangplank took a sip from his pipe.

"No, it's not about that. Or at least, by all means, not only about that." - Shen replied - "Everyone knows a war is coming. A war that will reach Ionia sooner or later. Akali is important as an ionian champion, not as herself as Akali. It's all about that, if Ionia hears Bilgewater captures ionian champions, they're going to fear the pirates a lot more, making it easier for them to pillage the shores when Noxus finally launches the second war. Since Miss Fortune has the prisoner, many pirates will join her, and in turn Fortune will follow noxian orders during the war."

"Pirates aren't soldiers goddamit! We're free, and neutral as the salt of the seven seas!" - Gangplank said angrily - "That bloody Fortune has always been a whore for power."

"So, shall we recapture Akali from her?" - Shen asked, slightly nervous but not showing it.

"Aayy. I won't allow her to tangle with Noxus on our bill. At least if she doesn't have this Akali any longer, no one will join her whoring. Although I'm not interested in the girl, I don't believe in this hostage thing. It won't never work. So, where is Akali now?"

"I'm sure we'll find the answer on the Fortuna Mayor." - Shen replied.

"Tomorrow! It's too late for boarding it today, almost midnight it is. Go and find yourself a place to sleep. Besides I think I won the poker game."

Gangplank showed his cards, and indeed, they were better than Shen's. The pirate took the two silver coins, stood up and walked out of the Crushed Skull. Shen followed him to the harbor. The warm salty air of the night felt really good after the smoke filled tavern. He walked up to Gangplank and quietly said:

"I could sneak onboard. You know Plank, I'm Shen from Ionia."

"A thousand salty mudcrabs!" - Gangplank spun around - "What the hell, you never walk around without that mask! Aahh, but anyway, you're in Bilgewater Shen! You don't sneak around here! You take what you want, and NEVER give it back! Tomorrow we'll board the Fortuna Mayor, I'll swear to that. But if you really are Shen, you'll come in handy too. You're good with a blade after all. Meet me at the Saltwater Scourge tomorrow morning at dawn."

With that, Gangplank turned and walked away, leaving Shen where he was. The ninja considered sneaking onboard Fortune's ship, but if Plank boards it anyway tomorrow then there was no reason for it. A hostile takeover still allowed a more detailed search than sneaking around poking in drawers.

So he made his way back to the docks to look for Kennen. He found the yordle sitting with two others at a table not far from the fires, a mug of beer in his hands. As he saw his friend approaching, he called out to him.

"Hey Shen! It's not midnight yet is it? Sorry if I wasn't at the ship, any success in the search? By the way, you won't believe, I won you about six gold coins. There was a contest of..."

"Yeah, I saw that." - said Shen laughing, as he sat down next to Kennen - "That throwing knife contest. You're certainly handy with those."

"Thanks. Oh by the way, he's Larry, a blacksmith from Bandle City..." - he said pointing at one of the yordles - " and that's Rhonheim, clock and watch specialist. An expert on time, and he said it's not yet midnight, so I can't be late." - Kennen finished with a wide smile - "They both escaped the city."

"I see. Glad to meet you. I see yordles aren't hunted here in Bilgewater. That sure can be a nice change."

"Not more than humans." - Larry answered. He was a strong, short muscular yordle with a thick moustache looking fur on his face. A typical blacksmith, with a hoarse voice. - "Everyone's equally hunted here. If you don't watch yourself, you'll end up dead and robbed, yordle or human, doesn't matter."

"That's all nice and good..." - Rhonheim continued - "But who will need clocks here, I don't yet know. At least Larry's lucky, all the pirates wants their sabers sharpened, cannons forged, or bullets made for pistols. Plenty of work for him."

"I'm sure you'll manage" - Kennen answered - "Hey, if nothin else, you can still sign on a ship and plunder some booty."

"That wouldn't be very much like me." - Rhonheim sighed - "You know, I became a clockmaker because I don't like murdering."

"Really that was the only reason?" - asked Larry - "You could have became a blacksmith then."

"No, that wasn't the only reason..." - Rhonheim looked over to the smith with a bit of frustration.

"Hey Larry..." - Kennen said after finishing his mug of beer - "You know you could forge me some well balanced throwing knives, or shurikens. I could certainly use some."

"I could try when I move into my smithy. I made a purchase here in town. Hell the old owner was happy to set sail again. Thirsting for blood and booty that one did."

"Hey Ken." - Shen patted Kennen on his shoulder - "We should go. I have news too."

"Kay." - Kennen nodded - "Alright gentlemen, thanks for the company, be seein ya."

The two companions stood up, and Shen suggested they go rent a room, so they headed for the closest tavern. But just on the way Kennen bought himself an entire roasted chicken, saying that even if he doesn't eat it now, it'll be good for breakfast. They paid for a night and moved to their room. The door had a huge rusty iron lock on it, with the key on the table. That was supposed to keep the thieves away, as if Bilgewater thieves wouldn't be known for blasting in doors.

The room had two old wooden bed in it, a small round table in the middle, a small closet, and huge amounts of dust and spider webs, along with empty bottles that previous lodgers left there. There was a single window looking at the harbor, and they could just see the five fireworks shot in the night that marked midnight. Before going to sleep, Shen explained everything he found out to Kennen.

"So, do you think this hostage thing really could work. I mean Gangplank doesn't trust it either." - asked Kennen.

"It all depends on how they use it." - Shen replied - "If they tie her up and hang her from the front mast, I bet it would work."

Kennen didn't want to think about a tied and hanged Akali any longer, so instead he said 'gnight' to Shen, curled up and closed his eyes.

Shen also drifted off to sleep, emptying his mind from all the troubles of tomorrow, Gangplank, the boarding of the Fortuna Mayor. They were so close to finding Akali now.

[...]

Shen awoke early in the morning. He opened his eyes, took a deep breath and sat up. Kennen on the other bed was still fast asleep, quietly moaning as he turned from one side to the other. There was no need to wake him up, Shen was certain he can handle the Fortuna Mayor with Gangplank alone, so he let the little throwing knife champion sleep and walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind himself.

He left the tavern where they slept and walked out into the open. The docks were silent now, many of the pirates passed out, sleeping on the tables or on the ground. The fires were also extinguished by now, only ash remaining in the pits, but the colored flags were still swaying in the cool morning breeze.

Shen briefly looked around and spotted the Saltwater Scourge, easily the biggest ship in the harbor. Even from a distance he could see the crew was readying the ship for launch. As he walked up to it, Gangplank was already waiting.

"Shen, good you're here matey, we're soon setting sails."

"But the Fortuna Mayor is just over there. It dropped anchor long ago." - Shen was a little confused - "Why don't we walk over to it and board it from the harbor?"

"That wouldn't be like a pirate at all!" - Gangplank answered, his voice showing a bit of surprise and resentment - "Now get onboard, you scurvy ninja!"

"You're the captain..." - Shen shrugged. Guess it's the pirate's way.

Shen walked over the ramp leading to the Saltwater Scourge's deck. Gangplank soon followed, and the crew pulled up the ramp and released the sails. The ship left it's dock only to sail roughly 400 meters further along the harbor where the Fortuna Mayor anchored. Gangplank commanded the ship to sail up parallel to it. When they were just next to it, he bawled:

"FIRE! Ten middle cannons! Get ready to board!"

The Saltwater Scourge fired it's ten central cannons on the left side that was looking at Fortune's ship, penetrating the it's hull. The noise woke many of the harbor's sleeping sailors. The Fortuna Mayor cracked and leant right as water starting filling it's lower deck.

"Dammit, I didn't count on that. We don't have much time 'till the ship sinks." - Gangplank muttered. Then he yelled over to the crew - "Board the ship already useless scum, throw those grappling hooks! Remember we are looking for information, documents, papers, anything on a League champion prisoner! Whoever finds it receives ten gold coins! GET MOVING ALREADY!"

"Should I go as well?" - asked Shen quietly.

"If ye want to. But my boys will search every inch of that ship, there's nothing they won't find."

"Unless there are some of those famous secret rooms, ey?"

"They use pickaxes to cut through everything made of wood. And believe me, most things on a ship is either made of wood, or can be plundered and brought back here."

"Clever." - Shen admitted - "That ship's going to sink anyway after all."

"Bloody right mate. That biatch deserves it."

Shen walked over to the railing where he had a good view of the other ship. The Fortuna Mayor's crew did not provide much resistance, most of them still being drunk so Gangplank's men cut their way through them like knife in butter, soaking the deck with fresh blood. After fifteen minutes or so the Scourge's crew started returning to the ship, packed with heavy crates, sabers, swords and other melee weapons, powder barrels, nets, cannonballs, oils lamps and tons of papers.

"Alright boys, bring every documents and papers to my cabin. Shen, follow me." - the captain ordered.

Gangplank led Shen into his own captain's cabin. By it's size it could easily fit to be in a royal castle, except for the wooden walls. The room had the finest mahogany furniture, the huge window in the back had velvet curtains to it's side while the walls were decorated by paintings, fancy blades and nautical maps. There was a nice mahogany desk in the middle of the room with a silver plate of oranges on it. Soon, a sailor arrived with a bunch of papers and books in his hand, and placed them on the desk.

"Right. Now we're gonna look through these. Shen, you know best what we're after so you're helping me on this. And you there, why are you still here?!" - the last sentence was aimed at the deliverer.

"Captn said it's ten gold whoever finds the document. The crew, ... and khm .. and myself... we would like to claim it."

"GET OUT! OR I'LL HANG YOU ON THE MAST!" - Gangplank bawled.

There was no need to say it twice, the pirate ran out as fast he could.

"We did not find it yet, it might not be here. The greedy assholes always want everything in advance..."

They split the material between themselves, Shen looked through the journals while Gangplank browsed the letters and maps. The journals contained information on where the ship has harbored before, bought and offloaded cargo as well as the first mate's personal notes. But it would appear that Akali was a secret business, because the books and records contained nothing about her, not even any prisoner loaded onboard in Bandle City. It appeared that Miss Fortune did have half a brain to strictly warn the first mate not to record anything.

"How about this, ninja?" - Gangplank asked as he tossed a map in front of Shen - "It's a map of the Blue Flame Isles. There's a spot marked with an 'A'."

"Don't pirates mark treasures with 'X'?" - Shen asked back.

"Not unless they want every cockhead to find it. But isn't it an 'Akali' that we're looking for? Couldn't be?"

"Maybe you're right. Anything else that might be it? Anything more you found?"

"Not a thing."

"So where is this place. You know the isle more than me."

"Hmm, lemme see." - Gangplank took a good look at the map - "If I remember well, that should be a seaside cave. So, that's where that whoring Fortune wants Akali taken?"

"Our only lead..." - said Shen quietly.

"We'll take it then! You ready to move?"

"I am, but how will we go? It's a seaside cave, do we take the ship, or walk inland?"

"Hmmm... good question." - Gangplank replied - "What do you say?"

"I would do it like this: Have the ship somewhere close to the cave, but we go in on foot, unnoticed. When we need it, our ship can help."

"Right then, we'll do it your way."

"The Fortuna Mayor arrived here yesterday, early morning. Isn't it possible they're already done?"

"I think I can say you're lucky on that one, ninja. My pirates reported a caravan leaving yesterday evening, but they probably spent the night out in the wilderness, before they'd reach the cave. It would be too far, but they didn't want your prisoner in town either, for I might sink their ship too soon. Almost got them bastards still."

"Then waste not a minute, and hurry to the cave. I'll go get my companion." - said Shen as he rose from the table.

"What? So you're not alone aye? Who's this companion then? The third one of your little band, the yordle?"

"He is." - Shen answered shortly.

"I had a first mate once who was on for yordles, tho wasn't one himself." - Gangplank laughed - "But the sea took him in the end. Well, with a little help ... yahaharrr."

Shen slowly shook his head, but did not answer. Bilgewater probably never gets old with tales like this. He quickly left the captains cabin, and just wanted to leave, but the ship wasn't in port, since it was in position to board the Fortuna Mayor, that almost completely sank by that time. He looked around and found that the front of the Saltwater Scourge was just close enough to another ship that had contact with the docks, so he ran over to it and jumped.

"What the... " - many of the sailors yelled in surprise as Shen landed on their ship.

Unfortunately a lot of sailors came onboard to watch the 'sea battle' but the ninja just shoved away and ran off their ship into the harbor. At least that went smoothly. Now to wake Kennen up, if he isn't awake already, since half the the city was, due to Gangplank's clever cannon shots. Even a small crowd had gathered, but did nothing more than peacefully watch the Fortuna Mayor sinking to the bottom of the sea. Shen walked up to the tavern where they slept, but found Kennen sitting at a table just in front of it.

"I wondered where you are." - the yordle said as he arrived - "So? Tell me."

"We have a possible lead on Akali. We'll be heading further inland with Gangplank. So gather up and prepare to leave, okay?"

"Sure, it's not like I have much to carry anyway. Well aside from that handsome purse I won here last night." - he added with a smile.

At that point Gangplank arrived with a few men behind him, and soon caught up to them.

"So my friends, ready for a good healthy hike in the jungle? Ah, and you must be Kennen then. You know I had a first mate once..."

"You already said that." - Shen interrupted him.

"That was another one." - Gangplank looked back at him - "This one ... but nevermind then. The sharks remember and that's enough."

Kennen looked up at Shen's face to see his reaction, but there wasn't much he could read.

"Gentlemen, I'll lead the way!" - said Gangplank.

"The ship's on the move, right?" - asked Shen quickly.

"It is mate, it is. It will be waiting for us."

With that Gangplank took point, leading the little band. They went through town, and this was the first time Shen and Kennen actually went deeper into the city of Bilgewater. Most of the houses were still wooden shacks with sea specific objects left astray ahead of them, like lone anchors and unused ropes, or torn sails, objects typical of sailor families inhabiting the district. As Gangplank led them a little further in a few stone houses appeared as well, but shacks still remained in majority.

Bilgewater probably had the highest density of taverns from all the towns in Valoran. Aside from that, many small marketplaces appeared in various parts of the city as they walked through it, but nothing too serious, like a Demacian Fare. After a few minutes they reached the city gates, but Bilgewater had no guards like other towns. After all, there was hardly even a government.

Walking through the wooden city gates, they have entered the tropical jungle of the Blue Flame isles. This kind of flora wasn't unknown for Shen at all, quite the contrary, it had many similarities with the forests of Ionia, although different enough for him not to be able to feel at home.

For a while Gangplank followed the dirt road leading out of the city before he entered the untamed jungle head-on at some point, his five pirates and the ninjas following him. After about fifteen minutes even the pirates stopped swearing at the bugs and mosquito, because they got thirsty in the rising heat. Of course they drank all their rum away even before they left the ship. So, soon the only sounds were the footsteps of the travelers, buzzing of bugs and the swishing of leaves as the wind got stronger times and again.

It was actually farther than Shen expected. After good four or five hours, when the sun was already past it's highest, Gangplank stopped. They were at the foot of a larger hill, with a small cave entrance, or rather a tunnel in it's wall.

"So, here we are lads!" - Gangplank said with delight - "The other end of this passage is directly at the shore. The Saltwater Scourge should already be there."

"But just to make sure..." - said one of the pirates, a voice hoarse from thirst - "We should wait half an hour, right?"

"Don't even think about it." - said Shen quietly - "So everyhting's ready, right?"

"Yes, so let's get a move on. I wouldn't want that bitch unworthy of any sea to salvage the noxian alliance gift."

And so Gangplank took point again and entered the little tunnel, Shen and Kennen directly behind him, followed by the five pirates. After half a minute the little tunnel expanded into a huge cave hall, with the height of at least 10-15 meters. It had a huge entrance facing the shore, actually big enough for an entire ship to fit through it, if only it had water. It was the biggest seashore cave Shen ever saw. And there it was, small campfire in the middle of it, with lots of crates around.

"Ssshh mateys..." - Gangplank whispered - "We don't want to alert them."

Shen took a better look at the people sitting around the fire. There were at least fifteen of them, and one of them wore a hat that appeared to be like Miss Fortune's

"That's our bitch..." - Gangplank whispered as they hid behind a larger crate - "Shen, can you see Akali anywhere?"

Shen scoped the area. There were too much crates and barrels and cargo in the cave, but still, he could not see any cage, or anyone tied up, or even any person that had Akali's body proportions.

"They don't seem to have her." - he whispered back to plank.

"Well, the map was correct, Fortune's just over there. They must be expecting Akali here. We must wait."

And so they waited, keeping an eye on the large cavern entrance. And the minutes went by, slowly turning into hours, and Shen's legs were started hurting as he crouched behind the crate. The cave started to feel emptier with every past second, as hope of seeing Akali got weaker by every one of them. The people around the fire didn't seem to be in a chatty mood, they certainly didn't want to start chatting loudly about when they expect Akali to arrive. All that could be heard was restrained muttering every once in a awhile. After some time though, the person that appeared to be Miss Fortune stood up and started walking in circles around the fire, probably of boredom.

And then finally, footsteps and noises of wheels could be heard. A caravan entered the cave, with a single horse and a carriage, and to Shen's greatest relief, the carriage was carrying a cage, a cage in which Shen discovered Akali's two sharp, but tired and tortured eyes. He was sure Akali had spotted him, she even moved slightly, but gave no other sign. Ah yes, years of experience together made them feel each other's instincts, feel each other's thoughts, even their presence. Shen could have sworn that was the sole reason Akali spotted him in the cave's dark corner.

And so the time has finally come! The Saltwater Scourge was already sailing out from behind a small hill and a few trees that covered it before, to be in shooting range. The first mate must have seen the caravan and gave the order.

"Time to plunder!" - said Gangplank as he jumped out of his hiding place - "Parrrley!" - he shouted as he took aim and shot Miss Fortune right between the eyes.

Alas, his aim was proper as always, and with the League no more, such a kill had lost it's consequences. Shen used the confusion the pirate created and ran up to the caravan, throwing a blade precisely into the driver's neck. Kennen was right behind him, and showered the rest of the escort with throwing knives launched with bleeding precision. They lost count of the kills as Shen had to slice up a few more jugulars when the rest of the escort jumped at him. Once they had a few clear seconds Shen quickly collected his blade and they grasped the bars off the cage and pulled it off the carriage.

"More of them coming!" - Gangplank yelled - "Take cover, I'll give the sign!"

It seems the caravan was a little early and left part of it's escort a few minutes behind, because at least twenty more people were storming into the cavern from the shore's direction. Gangplank however fired another of his guns, signaling the Saltwater Scourge. In just a few seconds, the incredible noise of firing cannons filled the air, as the Scourge fired a volley of cannonballs through the huge entrance of the cavern. Shen and Kennen barely managed to drag the cage to a bumpy spot in the wall where they were covered from the cannonfire. Gangplank and his crew ran back into the tunnel, but Miss Fortune's crew wasn't close enough to make it, since they just entered the cave. The volley took every single one of them, filling the cavern with blood and torn off limbs, bones and organs lying everywhere. Then the ship finally ceased the fire.

"Shen..." - Akali whispered from inside the cage - "Kennen ... thank you..."

"It's not over yet, we'll have to get you out of here." - said Shen, a weak smile appearing on his face.

"Alright..." - said Gangplank as he watched over the effects of the massacre - "I think we're done here. Excellent job everyone. Oh, Shen, and I don't owe you anything for this tip, because there you have your comrade. Still, I am grateful to you."

"That's all good and nice, but we have to break this cage yet."

"Shouldn't Fortune have the key?" - answered Gangplank.

"Damn, just my luck..." - Shen replied looking over to the fireplace - "A cannonball torn her body..."

Still, Shen walked over to Miss Fortune's remains. A cannonball just hit her on the stomach and tore her body in two, aside from Gangplank's pistol shot in the head. He literally had to dig through flesh and blood as he searched for the remains of cloth and pockets. Getting bloodied to the elbow, he finally found a key. It made sense Fortune had these on her, after all.

Shen ran back to Akali's cage and pushed the key into the lock - but it didn't fit.

"Damn it! It's not that!"

"What? But ..." - Kennen blurted out in surprise.

"To hell with it, take her onboard and break that damn cage!" - ordered Gangplank.

With that two strong sailors grabbed the cage with Akali in it and carried it away.

"Come onboard, the two of you! I'll open some fine bottles of rum and there'll be 'Yohoho' all over the night." - Gangplank yelled over to them, obviously overjoyed by the victory - "And you Shen, get yourself washed in the sea. Believe me, saltwater's the best to clean off the blood, if you know what I mean."

Shen took a deep breath and walked out of the cavern, with Kennen behind him.

"But we found her Shen! She's safe now." - said Kennen - "Why aren't you happy?"

"I don't know Kennen." - Shen replied as he crouched down to wash his hands at the sea - "Maybe it's just all the suffering I saw in her eyes..."

"It doesn't matter now, she's safe, she could just as well be dead. Come on Shen, cheer up."

"Right." - Shen answered shortly.

He climbed up the rope ladder that was hanged from the ship's side and climbed onboard. A strong pirate stood next to the cage with a crowbar in his hands, the lock on the deck, the cage already open. Gangplank, like a true gentlemen, held out his hand and gently held Akali's in his own, helping her out of the cage.

"Welcome on the Saltwater Scourge M'Lady." - he said - "I hope you'll be satisfied with my humble little ship."

But Akali ran straight over to Shen, and hugged him as tight as her weakened muscles allowed.

"It's alright Akali" - Shen whispered into her ear as he returned the hug - "It's alright now..."

Meanwhile Kennen also climbed onboard.

"You can't imagine how happy I am to see you, Shen. You really can't" - Akali mumbled as tears filled her eyes - "And you, my favorite little yordle." - she added, turning to Kennen.

"Akali, I missed you so much." - Kennen said on his warm, but always slightly hoarse voice.

"Here M'Lady! Have some oranges, they always help me." - Gangplank appeared with a silver plate of oranges in his hand - "I really wouldn't have a lady with tears on my ship, so take as much as you like."

Akali didn't refuse the offer, and took an orange off the plate. Shen quickly handed her one of his katanas and helped her peel the orange. No more words were said as Akali started eating segments of the orange one by one. It really seemed to do her good.

"You know Shen" - Gangplank walked up to him - "Our little action in the Bilgewater harbor didn't make us very popular there. Once the other captains find out they wouldn't really like me being back there, so we'll just go sailing the seas for a while 'till they forget. And because I'm so grateful for you, for making this party possible, I'll let you decide where we go, okay?"

"Thank you Gangplank."

Shen considered the possible destinations. They could go back to Ionia now. But now that they have Akali, he felt they could do more than organizing defense back in Ionia. He felt they need to do something that really strikes the noxian army hard.

"We're going to Noxus." - Shen told Gangplank confidently - "I'm going to kill Jericho Swain."


	11. Flowers of Vengance

**Flowers of vengeance**

Shen leant over the ship's railing, staring into the sea. It's been three days since they rescued Akali and Gangplank killed Miss Fortune back at the Blue Flame Isles. Akali was still in a terrible shape, as it turned out Singed has been conducting chemical experiments on her while she was held captive. Did they really serve a purpose, or was it just for amusement, Shen did not know. His thoughts were mostly about another noxian. Swain.

The decision was already made. Now that they have recovered themselves as a team, they had to make a move and kill Swain, the brain of the noxian army. It seemed like the fastest and most efficient way of slowing down the invasion.

It is foolish to underestimate your enemy, and Shen knew very well just how capable Swain was. That is why he had to die. There was no question about the weight of his death. Yes, a courageous demacian might have just said that Swain is an incapable pathetic idiot and any demacian could kill him easily but that would mean he wouldn't worth the effort. But if you think clearly and do not underestimate the importance of the general, you'll se the potential in his death too, which would otherwise be overlooked.

The only question is how. Once they arrive in Noxus, how will they proceed? Shen thought it over and over again a thousand times. He even spoke with Gangplank about it, and the old pirate mentioned a friend living close to the docks who could give them shelter and at the same time, a hiding spot. That seemed like a good place to start.

Shen straightened himself and stepped back from the railing. It was time to check on Akali. He turned and headed to her cabin. Once there he slowly opened the door and looked inside if she's asleep. However Akali wasn't alone, Kennen was playing a card game with her as he sat on her bed near her.

"Kennen, I told you to let her rest." - Shen said quietly.

Akali looked up at the door.

"No, please, it's alright." - she said, smiling weakly.

"Still beating him, are you?" - Shen walked closer, speaking calmly - "You're damn good at this game. I wonder why Kennen doesn't quit."

"Because I want her to get better." - Kennen answered.

There was also a silver plate with oranges on the bed, a small piece of paper near it that read 'For quick recovery' with Gangplank's name on the bottom. Shen wouldn't suspect Gangplank could write. Isn't the world full of surprises?

"Akali, how are the meditations going? We already revised the cleansing and healing rituals, but if there's any problem with it, I'll show you again."

Akali coughed and then quietly answered:

"They're going better, but it's still hard to focus. I can't go deeper or my head explodes."

"The neural poison must have been stronger than I expected. Maybe we'll need concentration exercises outside of mediation. You need the focus to cleanse your body." - Shen answered.

He came closer so he could examine Akali. She was slightly better now, but one of her eyes still had a little different color and her skin was scaly and blistered at many parts from internal poisoning.

"She will recover, will she?" - Kennen asked.

"Yes, ... I think" - Shen answered - "I don't know if there will be any lasting effects."

"Shen..." - Akali whispered after a short cough - "Let me train. I need a little exercise, that would help."

"Akali, you're still too weak..." - but Shen couldn't finish.

Akali's head twitched, the cards fell out of her hands, arms shaking and fingers twisting. She groaned in pain.

"Akali!" - Shen said louder, but not out of control - "Take over your nerves! It's your body, you control it! You can make it stop!"

Akali shut her eyes and a few seconds later her body calmed down, only a steady panting remaining.

"That's right. You did excellent, it was a lot shorter now. Keep it up and you'll be okay in a week." - Shen said, quiet again.

"Yeah ... I'm okay..." - Akali breathed.

"Singed should pay for this!" - Kennen said angrily - "We should find him and punish him for what he has done."

"We can't" - Shen answered - "Right now we must get to Swain as fast as we can. Believe me, if we crush Noxus that will hurt Singed."

"But I want to see him suffer!" - whined Kennen - "There was ... no reason to do this." - he said, looking at Akali.

"Control your emotions Kennen. Vengeance clouds your judgment."

"I agree." - Akali interrupted - "Killing Swain is what we must do now. For everyone, not just Ionia. I would rather see a defeated Noxus than just a dead Singed."

"Then rest." - Shen answered - "To accomplish that, you will need all your strength. Come Kennen. Let her sleep."

Kennen got off the bed and silently followed his companion out of the room.

[...]

The sun dawned four more times until they have reached the docks of Noxus, and the Saltwater Scourge managed to secure a place for itself among all the noxian navy battleships.

"Alright!" - Gangplank said just after they dropped the anchor - "We will resupply here and then get out as fast as we can. Sorry Shen, but you and your friends will have to find another way out once you're ... well ... 'done' here."

"I understand." - Shen answered - "Thank you for all the help you've given."

"Been a pleasure" - grunted Gangplank - "Fortune's dead, so your bill is paid. One last tip though, I have a friend living here close to the harbor. You'll know him because he has a garden." - an evil smile crossed Gangplank's face - "Anyway, he'll give you shelter for a few days if you tell 'im I sent you. Show him this ring ... or no, better give him an orange, and he'll know you're my friend."

"Hopefully we won't need his help for long. We should leave this city as soon as possible."

As soon as a sailor arrived with the signal orange, Shen and the pirate shook hands and the team left the ship. The harbor of Noxus was huge and clearly resembled times of war. Great battleships docked by the dozen, supplies and ammunition lying in crates and barrels on the shore, armed guards and soldiers patrolling in front of the metallic, sharp edged buildings of the dark city.

Shen, Kennen and Akali brought hooded cloaks with them from the ship. With covered faces they walked the dirty, sewer smelling tight streets that lay across the relatively tall buildings. It seemed the city of Noxus used two building materials: stone and metal. You might have expected a cutthroat that tries to rob you as soon as you turn a corner, but these weren't times like that. It was a time of war, and the streets were filled with soldiers, kicking aside the regular citizens while going to the harbor or heading back from it. This inspired most people to also cover their faces like Shen did, not sure if the increased amount of soldiers meant the resurrection of the justice system. The silence, suppressed tension almost vibrated in the air.

Following Gangplank's instructions they found a house that had the most gray and smallest garden they ever saw. If it could be called a garden at all. A few dim, spiky roses grew out of a tiny earth mound, surrounded by sharp, arrow ended metal railing. The house itself was made of stone with rusty metal roof patched with wooden planks at places. Shen walked closer and after a moment of hesitation he knocked on the dry rotten wooded door. Seconds later an insane looking old man opened the door, who seemed to have missed one eye while the other was yellow, and he grinned with all his missing teeth at the visitors.

"Wha...?" - he asked, twitching his head.

"We're friends of Gangplank" - Shen started, as neutral as he could, being hit by the smell of rotting teeth and tobacco - "He said you can give us shelter for a few days."

Akali coughed and took a few steps back, Kennen also slightly turning away in disgust. Shen held out the orange in his hand, so that the man can see it.

"Gangplank aye ... hragh ... yearh. I remember him." - answered the man - "You like my flowers?"

"I'm sorry, but we did not come for flowers."

"They're beautiful aren't they..." - the old man continued, staring at his flowers in bliss - "Wonderful plants..."

"No doubt." - Shen answered, still trying to sound neutral - "But can you provide us with shelter? We don't want to waste anyone's time, neither yours nor ours."

"You like my flowers...?" - asked the old man again with a cracking voice - "Do you know their story?"

"Good sir, can you or can you not..." - Shen began but he got interrupted.

"If Gangplank is your friend you must know the story. Do you know what's under my flowers?"

Akali looked at the little mound and noticed a small, half round stone plate with writing on it, stuck into the earth. She skipped a breath.

"It's ..."

"My brother" - the man finished, grinning wider and more insane looking than ever before - "You know friends, he wouldn't let me live, constantly in his shadow. But one day, oh one day, on that day, there he got into a tavern fight with the crew of the freshly arrived ship. The captain shot him right between the eyes himself. A precise, accurate, decisive, exact, straight, professional headshot."

"Holy shit ... this is insane." - whispered Kennen.

"Aren't the flowers beautiful? Feasting on my very vengeance, on my victory, my triumph. I have never seen anything ... more beautiful ... than these flowers. Seductive, charming, lovely, pretty, gorgeous little flowers..."

He took the orange out of Shen's hand.

"Come in then ... friends of Gangplank..." - he said laughing.

Shen took a short breath and entered the house, motioning his comrades to follow him. The singe room was filled with an even worse smell then the streets, the possible reason a pot on fire. It was likely that the water in it was from the sewers, and rats were being cooked in it. Kennen dragged Akali through the door.

"Shen ... I'm not sure we're safe here."

"Don't worry my love." - laughed the man wickedly - "As long as you have nothing worth robbing other than a strong stomach."

"It's still safer then the streets, and we're out of alternatives." - Shen answered - "You need rest and meditation, I know it's hard, but I also know you're strong."

Akali nodded silently.

"You need rest now. Kennen, can you stay with him?"

The yorlde also nodded.

"I'll try to collect some information that would help us create our plan."

"You're looking for something interesting?" - asked the man who was now poking the pot with a rusty metal spoon - "I wouldn't miss the execution then. If you'll hurry you can reach it."

"Where is it?" - Shen asked back.

"Not far from here, on the Square of Crows. Straight east of here. I love executions, all the vengeance ... they remind me ... of my brother. And the roses."

"Kennen, take care of Akali while I'm gone. There are usually heralds at executions, and ... "

"Shen, I want to go. I can take it." - Akali interrupted.

"Maybe you can, but still, that would cost you a lot of energy. Use that strength to cleanse your body instead, to meditate."

"But..."

"You have to be ready when we have to strike. Our strike must be the last."

Akali closed her eyes and turned away, slight disappointment on her face.

"Right. I'll do as you say." - she said quietly.

[...]

Nearing the Square of Crows Shen could already hear the cheering, and of course, the crows and ravens that gathered. He approached from the shadow of the wet, dirty stone walls of the alley that connected to the square. Pulling his hood more into his face, he entered the crowd of torn, dirty old linen cloaks with white-yellowish muddy bare hands and legs at the ends.

There was also a military patrol attending, noxian soldiers of black armor and a regulated formation, with no other than Darius ahead of them. His troops were weather beaten, cracked and dirty armor, torn capes and many scars, but they looked proud and confident, especially as they looked at their beloved leader.

Shen pushed himself a little further in the crowd and now noticed the wooden stage. The restrained prisoner was a fair haired woman, looking terribly scared.

"This is indeed a wonderful gift, brother!" - Shen noticed the executioner. As Darius answered, it was easy to guess who it was.

"I immediately thought of you when we marched at the Institute. I know you'll love them captured alive."

"This bitch always annoyed the hell out of me!" - shouted Draven at the prisoner - "Finally she'll provide some entertainment too."

The woman screamed as Draven started burning her with a torch he just took from one of the wooden pillars of the stage that served to illuminate the scene.

"Lady of Luminosity, hah?" - Draven shouted sarcastically - "You like the light? The fire? Burn and glow, bitch..."

The crowd went crazy from the spectacle, shouting furiously. As a response to the appreciation, Draven grabbed a knife and began peeling the skin off of the burning Lux. Darius smiled as the first drops of blood fell on the floor. The cheering became insane as Draven kept on, actually pulling skin off the living body.

"YOU'LL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT AGAIN!" - he shouted as he extracted Lux's eyes with his knife, rewarded by crazy shouting from the crowd.

Shen cast down his eyes. He saw enough blood in his life already, there was no need for more. With an entire military patrol around, the thought of helping Lux didn't even cross his mind. That would only prevent Swain's death. At one point Draven started throwing the peeled off pieces of skin into the crowd, letting it to be torn apart by the people. A minute later Lux finally passed away, and the crowd started losing interest. Blooded and dirty, Draven stood satisfied on the wooden stage. A final bow and he descended the small wooden stairs, walking over to his brother. Shen slipped close enough to be still in the crowd but be able to hear them.

"That's my brother..." - Darius patter Draven on the back - "What a show! As always!"

"Just like yours, brother." - Draven answered, taking off his gloves - "Swain will be happy to know Demacia's under control now."

"Oh yes he will be, after all it was his plan to ... "

Shen couldn't hear what Darius said and the crowd was already leaving. He began following a smaller group that went closer to the brothers, staying just a few meters behind them.

" ... would have never thought an idiot like that ... thing could be of so much use." - Draven said - "You really need to be a wise ass to know freeing a thing like that is the key to victory. You speaking with him today?"

The group was already leaving but Shen had to stop to hear what they're saying. He bent down and started fiddling with his boots.

"Nah, tomorrow." - Darius answered - "I'll meet him after lunch."

"Hah, climbing all the stairs with a full stomach..." - Draven laughed.

If Shen would have kept fiddling with his boots any longer it would have started looking ridiculous. He had to go before they noticed him.

"I've only been in his office once." - said Draven - "The bloody place, almost missed it."

"It's not that hard ... " - but Shen couldn't hear anything else as he moved away.

[...]

"So it's tomorrow. Most likely in the tower of the castle at the city's edge." - Shen finished reporting the events once he reached their little house.

"Poor Lux" - Akali said quietly.

"Funny thing we weren't even sure Swain's in town." - Kennen noticed.

"Yeah, we took our chances there." - Shen agreed - "So what we're going to do, is buy three hooks and ropes, and we're going to climb the castle. We must then kill Darius just before he would meet Swain, and assume his identity to get inside the office. We move in for the kill and leave through the window, climbing down the wall."

"Been a while since we've done anything like that."

"Times have changed. Now we should all rest. Early in the morning I'll go and buy some climbing hooks and the ropes, then we begin at noon. You should hang around the castle, find some place where we could start climbing." - said Shen.

Akali and Kennen nodded silently.

"Now then ... " - Shen sighed - "All we need to do today is rest. Let's ease the tension a little, Kennen do you still have that card set?"

"Yea, 'course." - Kennen answered as a smile appeared on his face.

He fished out a card set from his backpack. The rest of the evening went by with a rather silent but still overall happy time of playing. Even the rotting old man joined for a round but he gave up on understanding the rules and rather went out to water his flowers. He could spend hours talking to the plants.

[...]

It was half an hour before noon when Shen approached the public square before the Noxian Castle, the metal hooks he bought earlier hidden under his cloak. Akali was already waiting for him, sitting on a bench with a backpack near her. It may sound funny, but Kennen actually had to be carried in one of the bags, for they were in Noxus itself, heart of the hatred for nonhumans.

"Everything's set. Found anything?" - asked Shen quietly.

"Over there. A poorly guarded entrance to the backyard." - Akali pointed to a door in a metal fence protecting a small garden belonging to the castle - "What do you think?"

"Worth a try." - Shen nodded - "Come, bring the bag too."

They walked a little closer to the garden. There was only a single soldier guarding the entrance. Shen bent down and picked up a heavier stone from the ground.

"I'll try to get his attention" - he whispered.

When the soldier looked away, he threw the stone into the garden that landed with a loud noise. The guard snapped up his head, turned around and looked inside through the bars of the fence. Seeing nothing, he unlocked the gate and walked inside to look around.

"Ancient, but effective ... alright, slowly and causally walk inside the garden. Look natural and you won't arouse any suspicion." - Shen whispered to Akali.

Just as if it was their own house yard they walked inside, but the soldier who noticed them entering knew the area was out of bounds.

"Hey there! Wha' the bloody hell are ya ... ?!" - he approached them, raising his spear.

"I'm sorry, it's just that ... " - Shen began but needed to speak no longer. He got in touch's distance, and just as quick as always he drew his katana and silently killed the man before he could react.

They quickly dragged the body after the point where the wall took a corner and the garden was no longer visible from the square. Here Kennen could finally get out of the bag.

"Damn it's been uncomfortable." - he sighed - "So we're starting the climb here?"

"Yes" - Shen answered - "I've got the hooks. Alright, so our goal is the tower. Come on then, we've got a lot of work to do."

The castle wall was made of stone and there were a lot of sticking out bricks and sometimes there were usable ornaments or windows too. Using the hook and their hands, the three slowly started climbing the castle wall. The stone was cold and wet, mossy at many parts and that slowed them down a little. Kennen was often helped by the others when he couldn't reach the next ledge. As they got higher the air was also getting better, but colder too. Still, the lack of the sewer smell so typical of the streets was a good factor.

Fifteen hard and painful minutes of climbing and occasional resting at windowsills they finally got close to the tower. Climbing over to the office's windows however seemed impossible from this angle, only if they would have started climbing at the castle's opposite side.

"So, what now?" - panted Akali - "You don't want to get around, do you?"

"No." - Shen answered - "If we would break in through the window Swain would just run out anyway. As I said, we'll need Darius's equipment as a disguise. We'll have to catch him just before he reaches the office. Which means we're going in."

Kennen looked in through the windowglass. The corridor seemed clear. He looked up at Shen and he nodded back so while holding himself with one hand he reached for a knife with the other, and cut a huge rectangle out of the glass. Then, holding his breath he pushed it in, and it crashed with a loud noise.

"Nevermind it, get inside." - Shen ordered.

The three climbed in through the broken window to the empty corridor. Judging by the view on the tower from the outside they moved forward to the corner.

"Alright, the office should be close. Now all we need is Darius."

Footsteps could be heard approaching the corner. Probably the noise of the broken glass alarmed some people. Shen motioned for the rest to wait until the person gets around the corner. Judging from the sound it was only one. After a few breathless seconds a middle aged female servant came around the corner - and got stabbed right in the throat.

"There was no other way." - Shen sighed as he removed his blade - "We can't allow failure now. Her life is a sacrifice, we should have been more careful..."

Akali took a sorrowful look at the dead woman, then her expression hardened.

"We can't leave her lying here" - she said - "Quickly, throw her out of the window."

A few quick grabs and the corpse was already falling down to the little back yard below the castle windows. It was time to look beyond the corridor. As they peeked through the corner it seemed their hallway connected to a staircase which led to a guarded double winged door just a level above. That must have been Swain's office.

The next minutes went away in slow, painful anticipation, but Darius just did now want to come. It must have already been past noon but the commander did not show up. The chance of them being discovered grew with every second

"What did he say? He's having lunch before meeting?" - whispered Akali. Shen nodded silently - "While we climbed I looked through one of the windows and it seemed to be a kitchen. I'll check it out."

"Alright, do it, we'll stay here in case he comes. Be quick. Very quick."

Akali went back to the window and climbed out, grabbing the ledge. She slowly lowered to the level below. Looking inside once more she made sure it was the kitchen, then after a short, deep breath she kicked through the glass, launching herself into the room and arriving on the floor with a tumble. The kitchen staff screamed in surprise but Akali as she stoop up quickly grabbed one of the waitresses who happened to be close to her.

"If anyone says a word she'll die." - came Akali's silent threat.

Then without warning she grabbed the waitresses hat and tore off the most important parts of her uniform, quickly throwing it on herself to look as much of a waitress as possible. As the shock kept the other stuff members freezed she blast open into the restaurant part, searching for Darius among the guests. Within seconds she found him sitting by one of the tables, comfortably chatting with one that seemed like another officer. She quickly walked over to them.

"Sir, General Swain requests your presence at his office." - she said officially sounding.

"I know." - Darius answered slowly as he looked up and scanned over Akali with suspicion - "At noon. Is he being impatient?"

"It is already past noon sir. General Swain has many other duties to attend to." - Akali said in one breath.

"Strange. He said he's free this afternoon."

"It was a ... an urgent call from Bilgewater sir. He would like to meet you right away."

"And how does a waitress know about where such an urgent call comes from." - Darius asked back - "I don't remember any waitresses with such deep insight into martial matters."

"The general wished you to know too." - Akali answered quickly - "All I was to say is that he requests your presence as soon as possible."

"Well, alright. If the old man's so impatient ..." - Darius stoop up - "Let's see him then."

"Yes sir!" - Akali turned around and headed back for the kitchen but Darius yelled after him.

"Aren't you going to take the plates?"

Akali froze for a moment, but then quickly recovered.

"Yes sir, sorry sir!"

She picked up the dishes and almost ran back to the kitchen, balancing the plates on her arm. Once inside she dropped them immediately and pushing aside the still shocked kitchen staff she ran for the window and climbed up the wall again.

"He's coming soon" - Akali whispered as she caught up with her comrades - "Anything happened?"

"They're going to notice the disappearing maidens..." - sighed Kennen.

"Another one?" - Akali asked.

"Yes" - Shen said shortly.

Footsteps could be heard from the staircase and soon Darius appeared walking towards the office. As soon as he got close enough Shen gave the signal and the three intruders surrounded the commander. They were quick, and Darius barely managed to make any noise before he lifelessly fell to the ground. Shen closed the commander's eyes.

"Rest in peace..." - he whispered.

He took the noxian's red cape and a few characteristic armor pieces so he looked a little similar to Darius. Luckily they both had dark black hair and that helped. Still, the guards must not be given a lot of time to look.

"Alright, Kennen, hide under Akali's cloak. We're going in."

Kennen did as he was told, and Akali followed Shen up the stairs to Swain's office doors. They approached the guards.

"Stand aside!" - Shen yelled at them as he pushed one of them aside and violently broke through the door before they could get a good look at him.

"But sir! Who's this with you?!"

Shen was already inside the office and saw Swain sitting at his desk. As the tactician looked up his eyes reflected that he recognized the man before him was not Darius, but his guards were still deceived for the moment.

"Swain my good old friend, I have to tell you ..." - Shen said as he approached the tactician. Swain tried to stand up as fast as possible, reaching out for a sword decorating the wall - "I have to tell you ..." - He was close enough now. Shen drew his katana faster then ever before and deeply sheathed it in the throat of the noxian general. His last words were only a whisper - " ... that Noxus will fall."

Kennen immediately came out of his cover and threw throwing knives at any guards near him. Akali also launched herself at the bodyguards, but the alarm was raised. The helpless soldiers were paralyzed from what they just saw, and fell quickly before the ninjas. The screams were soon followed by the ringing of a bell as the alarm spread further, probably from the kitchen too.

"Quickly, out through the windows!" - yelled Shen as he started breaking the glass in the offices windows.

All three picked a window for themselves and steadied the hook on the windowsill. Then they grappled down for as long as the ropes allowed.

"Alright, we're climbing from here!" - yelled Shen.

Hands let go of the ropes and looked for sticking out bricks and ledges as they descended further. In spite of almost falling several times in the end they made it safely to the ground. They arrived at a little farther point of the same little backyard. They were in luck. The nearest town gate to the North was in sight's distance and the guards were alarmed to the castle. Pretending as they were part of the disoriented and scared crowd, they managed to reach the town gate in the chaos.

Outside the wall lay the outskirts of Noxus, resembling more of a village than a town. According to lore, more honest citizens were residents here, those who worked inside the city but would rather choose to live outside. Therefore gates were usually open for the meantime, and also because trading caravans arriving from the North carried their goods into the city through the North Gate.

It praised the noxian military infrastructure, that alarm was already raised here as well, and guards were setting up a checkpoint. Preparations to close the massive gates were also in progress. Akali quickly grabbed Kennen and tucked him under his cloak, a little similar as if she would be holding a child. After a quick eye contact with Shen, she produced a very believable cry of panic and ran towards the village before the gates were shut.

Shen followed her with fast steps, and though his military disguise was poor, it was still that of a commander's, so he shouted with authoritative voice again, before they could question him.

"If you close the bloody gates how are you going to search the outskirts?! Dispatch a search squad immediately!" - he shouted as he was walking with speed like never before. It took discipline not to start outright running. He didn't actually have time to think over what he just ordered.

"Sir, but we were reported that suspicious individuals fled towards the west..."

"Then WHY are there so many guards here?!" - he quickly grasped the opportunity - "Get your asses immediately to the west, and assist searching units there!"

"SIR! The gate must have a minimum amount of guards during an alarm..."

"They stay here for fuck's sake!" - Shen closed it down, maintaining his arrogant noxian style. He needn't continue the argument as he got past the gate by now - "I'll look for viable soldiers to dispatch west myself!"

He finished as he stormed out. Now he needed to find Akali. They spoke no words, but he expected the woman to find a rather safe spot and observe from there, contacting him once safe. Years of work together was not in vain, she soon spotted Akali leaning out from behind the corner of a house, motioning him to follow.

Shen quickly caught up to her. Kennen was standing on the ground now, without the protection of Akali's cloak.

"This house is empty for now, quick, drop your armor in there, and here's a jacket I found inside."

"Professional as always..." - said Shen as he peeled off the armor from his body and quickly put the new leather jacket on, shifting his identity from a noxian commander to a resident of the outskirts.

"This village is too big." - Shen said as he looked around - "There's no forest or anything where we could quickly hide and disappear. We need to back it out somehow. Let me think..."

"Our best shot is to appear as strangers visiting town..." - Akali began.

"And strangers stay at the Inn..." - Kennen continued

"And Inns tend to be close to trading posts if there is one nearby. And there must be one here. We can look for a caravan there." - Shen took on.

"But trading posts, due to their nature, are at the edge of settlements, because that's where they have space for horses and carriages. It means we have to look for the Inn somewhere farther..." - said Akali.

"Farther along the main road of course." - Shen finished - "The one that starts from the gate. We must follow it from a distance though, because guards will also use it. Quickly, grab Kennen and go."

Staying a few house blocks away from it, they followed the widest road of the village, walking, but walking fast, trying to avoid suspicion. Lucky thing taverns always try to make themselves easy to find, this one having a huge sign hanging in front of it's veranda.

Slowing down upon arrival, they entered the building. It was full of merchants and peasants, chatter and voice filling the large hall. The alarm did not seem to get here yet, but Shen and Akali knew that in short time, it very much will. Still, it was an advantage because the people in there won't remember them as 'ones ran in during the chaos' even if they actually only arrived a few seconds before the first guards.

By the time the noxian military broke in the door, they were already sitting at one of the small, round tables, seemingly talking about something very important. Akali hid Kennen under the table, on her lap, covered by the cloak.

The troops started questioning the Inn dwellers, and soon one got to the group as well.

"We're visiting town." - Shen answered to the guard's question - "An old friend living here."

"And who might that? If that's a real person, surely you can tell where he lives..." - it seemed noxian trained military wasn't that dump after all.

"Ehhm ... we don't know exactly, we were just talking about how we're going to find him. You know it it's been some time we saw each other, and that was back in Bilgewater..."

"Really? Is that so?" - the soldier was getting suspicious.

After a quick thought Shen continued:

"But he did say he has a garden. I'm sure it's not that usual in Noxus, in fact, you might even help us out here."

"Ahm. Yeah. I know the old shit. An urban legend he is. But I have difficulties believing he actually has friends like you two... or that he ever was in Bilgewater. I'll think I'll just have to take you to a checkpoint and have someone look at your story, then we'll see."

"He's been to Bilgewater!" - Akali interrupted - "That's where he knows Gangplank from. Or did you not know? If he's an urban legend, then surely everyone knows he's a friend of Gangplank."

"Well, yeah, it's part of the story..." - the guard scratched his head.

"I'm sure nobody wants unnecessary work, so spare yourself, and your captain the trouble, will you?" - Akali continued, with a bit of womanly charm - "Actually, might we know why are there militia all over the place?"

"No. Mind your business then." - the soldier grunted, then left them alone.

As the guard got out of hearing distance, they could finally take a relieved breath.

"That was close." - sighed Shen - "He actually caught me there. Thanks for the help."

"Naturally. So, where to go from here?" - asked Akali.

"Well, there is only one place Noxus hasn't conquered yet." - Shen answered - "And that is Freljord."

"The last place before they move against Ionia. But without Swain, Freljord stands a chance." - Akali nodded.

"Still, we will have to go there and warn them. Warn their king to organize the defense. Defense against a now much less tactical Noxus." - Shen added.


	12. North

**North**

Freljord, the last chance, could be described as a land of unexploited combat potential due it's complicated alliance systems. The banner of Tryndamere united the Tribe of The Frost Archer, lead by queen Ashe, and the Tribe of The Ice Dervish. However the Winter's Claw clan was in opposition of this alliance, as Sejuani was against the idea of a Freljord associating with the League. Thus there was a strong chance that Noxus would find supporters within Freljord itself. And then there were the Ursine, formally allied with the Tribe Confederacy, but living rather remotely and independently up in the North. Whether they would answer the call for war, was unpredictable.

Up until now, it's hard terrain and unforgiving weather kept the noxian army away from Freljord, being designated as a last high priority target on the mainland. Shortly after the united forces of Zaun and Noxus overran and took control of Piltover the decision to move against Freljord was made.

The country in it's current state had almost no chance to repel the noxian army, without the help of the Ursine, and possibly fighting against their own kind under Sejuani's leadership. Right now the only good weapon Freljord had against Noxus was it's winter. The cruel weather slows an army's movement and makes logistics and background support painfully difficult. It drains the soldiers' morale and requires an entirely different tactical approach in battle. However with Sejuani on their side, the latter problem could be eased.

That is why Shen considered it to be of extreme importance to warn Tryndamere of the coming invasion, because he believed that with Swain and Darius dead, and with enough preparations Freljord could hold out.

"And what then?" - asked Akali - "Let's say we stop them at Rakelstake. What do we do after it?"

The small tavern room was silent. It was well past dusk, and Shen was sitting at the edge of his bed, with Kennen on his right, and Akali on a chair in front of him. They rented the room because an official quarantine was applied and outgoing caravans were blocked for a day.

"I don't know." - Shen sighed - "But it's definitely better than a smooth takeover by Noxus. Maybe we could call for Ionia's help and form a triple alliance with Piltover."

"What if they overhear us?" - asked Kennen silently.

"Those angry merchants downstairs make too much noise for that. But you're right. We should be more cautious. Let's change the subject" - Shen replied.

"The doors locked, right?" - asked Akali.

"Yes, I locked it." - came Shen's answer.

"Actually, why are we even here?" - Kennen brought up the question - "We could have gotten out of town too. It would be safer."

"It might be safer, but it would be too slow. We have to leave with the first caravan going North. Otherwise we won't make it in time, we simply can't afford to go by foot." - Shen explained.

"Steal horses?"

"Saw any we can take?" - Shen asked back.

"Ehm... no. Well, those with the caravan, but they are far too well guarded I guess."

"So we're stuck." - Akali concluded - "We better use this time the best we can, which is a good night's rest."

She laid down on her bed, fully clothed, but still wrapped a blanket around her body. Shen nodded and lay down on his back, hands crossed on his chest and so they tried to rest.

[...]

At the earliest dawn Shen was already awake, walking the misty streets of the outskirts alone. He already purchased some old traveling cloaks to keep them warm when they travel further north. He walked past the small, empty marketplace looking for carriages or any other means of transportation. Soon he spotted people gathering around the warehouse.

Walking closer he saw cargo loaded onto horses and carts. He figured merchants must be scared, because now in this state of chaos, and since martial law was announced, authorities are probably going to seize property and confiscate goods. Many people feared for their lives and so even in this earliest of hours several men were trying to secure places on outbound caravans. That was part of the reason why Shen also came early, the other part was to avoid attention.

He quickly picked the most desperate looking merchant who would probably start earliest and wouldn't ask too many questions after he heard the word "money".

"Heading north?" - he asked in his calm, seemingly uninterested tone.

"What's it to you?" - asked back the merchant, nervously rubbing his old brown coat, not even looking at Shen. His eyes where fixed on the lads loading crates onto his old, creaking horse carriage.

"As it is to everyone else. As it is to you." - Shen answered quietly - "It's not safe for honest men here anymore. Me and a friend of mine are forced to leave, and I would pay you to take us north."

"Honest men huh?" - the man said, now facing Shen with a bitter smile - "I don't suppose you want to trick me then, right? But honest men pay honorably you know."

"I do, as long as you remain just as honorable." - Shen said calmly.

After a quick breath, the merchant answered with fast words, obviously being uneasy and in a hurry.

"I do as long as there is money in it. It's the two of you?"

"Yes, just the two of us."

"Four gold coins ... LOAD THOSE CRATES ALREADY!" - he shouted at the workers.

"We could buy horses off that..." - Shen said quietly.

"Well go ahead then! Come on! Many a great steed around here, all for sale!" - the man almost shouted back at him, he was talking so loudly as he went to the second carriage in his old convoy to check on the wheels. Shen followed him.

"Okay. When do we start?"

"I want a gold coin right here in my hand and we're starting in thirty minutes." - he said as he made sure the wheel was properly attached - "WHAT'S WITH THE HORSES BOYS?! CALM THE BITCHES DOWN, DID THEY GET WATER!?" - he shouted over to front of the caravan.

"Alright, here it is." - said Shen as he handed over the coin.

"We won't wait for you!" - the trader finished as he stormed off towards the warehouse, coin in hand.

Shen quickly headed back to the tavern which was mostly filled with people in the mercantile trade seemingly turning it into a tradehouse, as angry and frustrated whispers of merchants could be heard all over the lower level of the building. Everyone seemed anxious and most people looked like they are preparing to leave. Curses and whispers, kept quiet and low.

"... they took all my horses, I swear I had to buy this bony assed mule for a diamond as big as my fist ..."

Shen ignored them as he headed upstairs, quickly entering their room. He found Akali awake doing a few quick morning exercises.

"I've arranged for a caravan to take us north." - he said quickly and quietly - "We're going right now, it is already prepared and will leave in a few minutes." - then he turned to Kennen - "Sorry lad, but you'll be traveling under the cloak."

Kennen moaned in disappointment but Akali wasted no time picking him up and covering him under one of the newly purchased capes.

"Lead the way." - she said.

Once back at the caravan, they climbed onto the last carriage, the third one, which creaked desperately as they got onto it. Not ten minutes later the merchant already familiar to Shen ran the last check on the carts. Shen quickly handed him the remaining gold coins without pulling his nerves, as there was really no need for delay. Kennen was hidden well and was not noticed.

Moments later the caravan rolled out, hastily leaving the Outskirts of Noxus behind. Their company on the carriage wasn't more than a few crates, so a couple of hours later, by Akali's suggestion they let Kennen out of cover so he could get some fresh air. Which there was plenty of, as the atmosphere got considerably better since they left the city behind.

The dirt road the caravan was following was constantly going uphill, and it also got narrower as it headed to the North. Emerging from the dry wastelands at the foot of the mountain, now faint green trees started to appear on the side of the road, mostly short evergreens with yellowish grass under them. Dry bushes and mountain flowers also dotted the rocky hillside.

The clouds too got thinner at first, letting the sunrays shine directly at the cooling landscape. After hours of travel, as dusk was approaching the narrow path widened, leading to a wonderful mountain highland, a little island of a grass pool between a deep chasm to the east and the rocky steep slopes of the west.

"Shen, did you ask where exactly are we going?" - asked Akali with a tone tired from a day of traveling.

"To the north, that's enough for us. Even if it's not getting us all the way to Rakelstake we still had to take it." - Shen answered, his voice a lot less weary.

"It wouldn't have hurt to ask though..."

"The merchant was frustrated, he had no time to waste. I didn't want to pull his nerves, unnecessarily."

"I can hear birds singing, among the trees..." - Akali whispered dreamily - "Just like back in our forests."

"Eventually we will come home." - Shen answered quietly but with a warm tone - "Once we ensured it's safety."

"Seems so far away now... we lived too long in the Institute. Our place is in Ionia."

Shen smiled, but did not answer. No more words were said in the following hours, only the monotonous creaking of the carriage as it rolled forward on the road, surrounded by the dancing rays of the descending western sun. As the caravan progressed, mist started to settle on the highlands, and it got thicker with every passing mile. Eventually, when two hours later they arrived at a small mountain village, the wetness of the air could be felt and smelled, a little like after a heavy rain. The sunlight was very dim at this late hour, further damped by the fog.

The village was small, maybe ten or fifteen wooden buildings altogether, but had huge open space around it, where other caravans and carriages were already packed off, most obviously arriving from Noxus. Many small trading posts were set up where merchants exchanged the goods they managed to salvage from the city.

When the carriage finally stopped, Shen and Akali slowly got off of it to stretch their limbs. Akali also shook Kennen until he was awake and helped him off. After all a carriage is tall for a yordle, especially for a tired and disoriented one who might easily fall on his face in an attempt to jump down.

"Akali, stay here with Kennen for now, the caravan probably stays for the night, but we can never be sure. I'll ask our little trader."

Shen headed off to the front of the caravan and quickly found the robed merchant, as he was talking to another person, a local for first sight.

"We stay for night?"

"Yes." - he grunted back - "Of course we do. In fact, not just for the night, but for a few days it seems."

"Days? Why? What's the problem?" - Shen asked back.

"Welcome to the village of Mistfall, lad!" - the trader answered with a sarcastic voice.

"And so? I don't yet see why would this village be so comfortable to stay for days in it."

"Don't bother me with this shit!" - came the frustrated answer - "I won't waste time on your ignorance. Go ask the damn locals."

Shen returned to his companions, but before he could speak Akali sensed his unease.

"Something's wrong?" - she asked.

"They stay for too long, days." - Shen sighed - "And they wouldn't tell why. Said I should ask the locals."

"So what do we do? Head out on our own?" - Akali asked calmly.

"Probably. But we need rest now. We still got money left, so take a few silvers and buy some food. There must be plenty judging from the number of caravans here. I'll try to find a place to stay for the night."

"What about me?" - asked Kennen - "Do I still need to hide?"

"I don't think they would attack you here, people around seem to have bigger problems now, but just in case, try to stay out of sight as much as you can, okay."

"Fine. I'll go with Akali."

While the two headed off to the trading posts Shen made his way into the village. Among the few buildings - many of them were built from full logs - he quickly found the largest and, as always, that turned out to be the tavern. He headed in and tried to find the innkeeper. The building was rather crowded with caravan workers and the traders themselves, so Shen had to wait a while until he could talk to the bartender.

"A usual drink?" - he asked.

"I would be more interested in a room for the night." - Shen answered.

"That's no good, we're full. Sorry but you'll have to sleep with the caravan outside."

"Shame. But why are they staying for days? What takes so long around here?"

"We have few guides to lead them through the fog. Usually it's enough for the little traffic we get here, but not with this many around."

"Guides? You mean the fog around here is permanent?"

"Our village is called Mistfall for good reason, sir. First time here aye? Well this place is called the Fogcloak highland, because it is covered in mist so thick you can't see five feet ahead of ya. That is the case at least further up north, but this is where it starts to get difficult to follow the road, at Mistfall."

"The wonders this world has..." - whispered Shen angrily to himself, then said aloud - "Thank you then. I'll be on my way."

Returning to the caravan site, Shen found Akali near the carriage they traveled with, eating what appeared to be bread and cheese with Kennen.

"Bad news." - he sighed as he sat down near them - "We have to go by foot, and the fog will only get worse. Also, it appears to be magical nature, as it seems to have been here so long that special guides were trained to lead caravans through it. Apparently, that's why so many of them are stuck here. There aren't enough of them."

"Maybe it's some sort of curse." - guessed Akali.

"Whatever it is, we won't have time to try and lift it. Let alone make sure it's a curse."

"I suppose we're going through it without a guide, right?" - asked Kennen.

"We have no other option. Now we need rest, for it seems tomorrow will be a hard day."

"It's not like the night will be easy in this cold..." - grunted Kennen as he pulled a blanket onto himself.

[...]

Early in the morning the group headed out, picking a slight northeastern direction judged by the position of the rising sun, and made their way into the cloud of fog, or as the locals called it, the 'cloak'. Ten minutes after they left the village behind, they already couldn't see farther than their own feet. At first they could still maintain direction based on the sun, but later the mist became too dense to tell the sun's exact position.

Obviously there was no trace of any kind road they could follow, the land was fully inhabited by wild yellowish grass, a few small lonely trees and rocks with overgrown mosses. Of course, the real density of trees was hard to tell, because they could only be seen once you were about to bump into it. And most of it looked rather similar to top it off. At one point Shen was so certain that he had already passed near such a tree that he marked it with his blade.

After hours of painful roaming the wind finally strengthened up enough for Shen to be able to establish a sense of direction based on it, judging the wind to be most likely southeastern based on the highland's situation.

"They could have placed signs here." - said Kennen, breaking the silence of traveling.

"And then what would guides do for a living?" - Shen asked back - "You know it's not always worth it to make some people's job easier..."

"They can't be that greedy..."

"It's also probably too much work for such a small village. Besides no one would actually spot those signs in this damn fog."

"I think we were spotted though..." - whispered Akali - "I heard footsteps."

They froze and listened. Shen focused, sharpening his senses, trying to catch even the slightest noise. There was the noise of the wind, few leaves rustling, the sound of birds flying high above the fog. Nothing for seconds, but then suddenly he could see gravel that rolled down the slope.

Immediately Shen darted towards the direction and now he could definitely hear footsteps, as if scared, trying to avoid him. The steps got louder now, coming form just a few meters away and though Shen followed them, he suspected it tried to lure him somewhere, intentionally becoming easier to detect. Moments later he felt a presence to his left but it was followed by a soft whisper on Akali's voice, identifying her.

The sound of the steps suddenly died down but silent rustling could be heard from multiple places, indicating a group of enemies just a few meters away from them, but covered by the fog. Shen and Akali now had their backs against each other with Kennen watching other directions. They started moving towards the rustling and spotted a silhouette appearing in the mist.

Understanding the slightest gesture of Shen's hand Akali quickly threw one of her kamas at it, but no voice followed the sound of impact. However an other noise could be heard, as if someone fell, and more gravel came rolling down. They approached the silhouette which turned out to be a small bare tree, Akali's kama standing out of it's core, and one of it's branches had a red sleeve tied on it.

"It's probably a meeting point, hence the mark." - Shen whispered.

"What are they waiting for..." - Akali muttered nervously.

Just as she spoke there was a very slight shift in the fog a few feet away and Shen's blade flashed as it flew right in it's direction not a moment later. The silence of the land was torn apart by a wild painful scream, a few unsure steps and a thud followed as the body hit the ground. Shen darted right towards it and found his victim, a masked guy in full leather armor with a lot of knives and pouches on his outfit.

Just as he was about to recover his blade he felt a shift in the air, or not even in the air, he just felt something is going to happen. He let his body decide what to do, allowing his instincts to take over him, which caused him to spin around while protecting his neck area with his wrist bracer. His senses were correct and he blocked with his arm, pushing the weapon aside he kicked the attacker in the stomach to stop his charge and as he was forced to bent forward by the pain Shen impaled him with his katana.

Akali was now out of his sight but he could hear steel clashing just a few meters away in the fog, sounds of kicks and punches. Shen's instincts warned him again and he rolled sideways towards the first corpse, recovering his blade as he stoop up and concluding that his second attacker barely missed him from behind. Shen was quick to dash forward and cut his throat.

On his left Akali emerged from the fog, backing away from two opponents of similar outfit. Shen parried a blow for her with his left arm bracer, grasped the opponent's hand and with a quick twist broke his elbow and then he carried out a deadly followthrough. Akali hooked her kama into her enemy's sword attempting to disarm him but Shen did not see the outcome as he turned again to block a thrust from behind.

Because the man shifted the balance of his sword Shen failed to push the blade properly aside after the block and therefore could not execute a proper counterattack as his enemy braced and parried. Shen delivered cuts and slashes with both katanas from multiple directions but his opponent was quick to parry, he dodged forward after a block and kicked Shen's left thigh to weaken his legwork.

The move broke Shen's focus for a moment and he didn't move his blade into position for blocking the right handed attack aimed at his jugular so he ducked instead and doing so allowed him a strike at the opponent's arm. Although wounded, the man turned his failed sword slash into a roundhouse kick instead as Shen's head was no low enough.

The move was successful as he managed to kick Shen's cheek, but ninja's backward roll absorbed a lot of the power and allowed him to maintain consciousness. Shen stood up and blinked a few times, bracing for the next attack. His enemy tried to follow through but the cut on his right hand took some of his agility and during a block Shen managed to push the blade out of balance and landed another successful cut on his opponent's arm and carrying the move forward he slashed his right waist with his other katana. The man dodged the third attack and changed hands, taking the sword in his left.

Shen waited for him to attack, hoping that with his less dexterous arm he will expose himself by doing so. His plan worked, his enemy's left handed attack was easy to block with one blade but the slash was followed by a desperate kick at the stomach that Shen dodged by stepping aside and as his opponent's leg touched the ground he literally stepped into his knee, brutally breaking it. He then thrust his left katana into his enemy's stomach while blocking the last threat with the right, left the blade embedded as he stepped back and cut the flesh of the man's neck with his right katana.

He took a deep breath and looked up, searching for his companions, but he couldn't see anyone in the fog.

"AKALI!" - he shouted to signal his position.

"He's over there!" - he could hear Akali talking to Kennen - "WE'RE HERE!"

"I think I killed their leader!" - Shen shouted back - "I don't want to lose him, come here!"

Akali's silhouette soon appeared and she came into visible distance with Kennen right behind him. Although she had many visible cuts on her, she did not suffer any vital injuries.

"I think we had them all." - she said, slightly panting.

"You sure you killed him?" - asked Kennen pointing at the man, as he suddenly moved slightly.

Shen realized he missed the neck artery and the man was still alive so he knelt down to him and removed his hood, then closed his eyes for a second.

"Talon..." - he recognized the dying man - "How did you know we were here?"

"Hah... a little bird told me..." - he coughed.

"I'm asking for serious." - Shen said coldly, gripping the hilt of the blade embedded into Talon's stomach, ready to cause him pain if need be.

"Arhh... and so I ... answer! Swain's little ... raven." - he was coughing up a lot of blood and it took great effort for him to speak, but he continued - "No matter ... what you do ... the king will ... fall."

"Just as you have failed, so will the others." - Shen answered calmly and sliced Talon's throat.

Shen recovered his blades, cleaned them and sheathed them, then he stood up.

"It seems he gathered a merry band of assassins by now." - commented Akali.

"Not nearly trained well enough, though." - Kennen added.

"We should follow these bandit's trail. Something tells me it will lead us out of the fog." - said Shen.

"Shen you have a nasty bruise on your face. Are you okay?" - Akali asked with concern in her voice. Shen raised his hand and gently touched his own cheek.

"Yeah I took a kick. But nothing broken, it will heal. What about you?"

"I could use a few bandages. Some of these cuts are bleeding. But this fine yordle saved me from a lot more with those precise knife throws" - Akali answered with a smile.

"We have plenty of cloth. Cut some for yourself. You can try and collect your knives, Kennen. I will try to find out which direction these thugs came from."

"Let's just not lose each other in the fog."

"We'll shout if we can't find the others."

A few minutes later they were ready to move and Shen was relatively sure he had found the direction where the attackers came from based on footprints and traces. After a couple of hours the trail led them to a great mountain chasm, the edge of the highland and curiously, the edge of the 'cloak' as well, since there was no fog above the chasm.

They decided to follow the edge as it made it much easier to know which direction they are going and also since it was the edge of the fog cloud, much of the eastern sky was still clearly visible. The path eventually lead deeper into the mountains, ascending above the highland and leading to rocky, difficult terrain.

They decided that between harder terrain and unnaturally dense fog, the mountain was still the lesser evil as at least they still knew which direction they are going. As night fell they made camp among the dry rocks and spent the night there, eating what they bought back in Mistfall. Sleeping on cold, bare rocks was another story, but they all knew these were no times of luxury.

As did the altitude rise so did the temperature decrease and soon even those few roots and weeds disappeared that gave some variance to the rocky landscape. Snowy mountainpeaks also appeared in the distance as they finally left the fog behind for good. Following two days of slow and difficult travel they could finally see the tundra of Freljord at the foot of the hills.

Descending wasn't an easy job either, as there were many dangerous steep slopes and one misplaced step could send you rolling down on them. Progress here was even slower then back higher and it almost took half a day to safely and slowly descend from the hills. Akali's kamas were a great help as they could be hooked into standing out rocks, allowing her to stretch a little longer for the next grasp.

The next goal was to find the road leading to Rakelstake, the capital of Freljord, where the King's castle and fortress laid. To the best of their knowledge, they took off towards the general direction of the city and hoped for the best. The snowy tundra were a lot easier to tread then the mountains and they were happy to have soft ground and grass under their feet again.

Freljord turned out to be rather beautiful in it's own way, with the endless snows reaching towards the horizon guarded by mighty mountains in the distance, while yellowish grazelands dotted with huge lone trees to the south.

Dusk descended on the travelers and the night sky's bright stars, though not providing much illumination, were still quite a spectacle. Without any alternatives they were left to spend the night in the open. When they came past an old lying log and they decided to set up camp there, and try to make use of the wood. They lay down the blankets they had near it, but aside from that, there wasn't much of a camp to build.

Setting the log on fire proved to be near impossible, it was wet and overgrown with mosses, so they tried to gather dry sticks and leaves and used their weapons to cut off some of the branches of the fallen tree that seemed usable. Even then, they struggled for an hour until weak flames finally lit up, small and slow, as if they would be afraid yet to grow further into the world.

It was still enough to warm some of the salted meat Akali fished out of her pouch. Though not much, along with some bread and even fewer cheese, it made up the traveler's dinner.

"I wonder if it's worth all the trouble, warning Tryndamere." - said Kennen as he was trying to get as close to the flames as possible without getting burned.

"Also, what if they already knew?" - asked Akali.

"It's impossible for them to know Swain is dead just yet." - Shen answered as the fire's shadows were dancing on his face - "And that fact changes the way they need to prepare."

"Okay, they prepare. Do you think Freljord could hold out then? It's only two men less, even if they were leaders." - Kennen continued.

"I don't know. But it seems to be our only chance. And hey, we're also coming to Rakelstake so that we'll be there during the attack. And that means a lot." - Shen said with a smile.

"True, we can turn battles around on our own." - laughed Akali.

Eventually the little fire died down, marking the time of sleep, so the travelers laid down and tried to rest as much as the cold allowed, covered in their blankets. With the earliest rays of dawn, they were walking the snowy grazelands again.

They couldn't see it during the night but they approached a small river flowing to the northwest. Knowing that settlements are bound to be found alongside water they began following it, even though the landscape was rather flat and the stream was a slow one. Through hours of travel the little watercourse led them deeper inland to the snowy grazelands, and as it progressed north, small pieces of ice started to appear at the edge of the riverbed.

"Look, houses!" - called Akali, pointing to the distance in the west.

"Finally. Let's see if we can get some directions, and maybe some transportation." - Shen answered with a smile, taking a deep breath of the cold, icy air.

"And food, maybe?" - added Kennen.

"Yes, that too. We shouldn't neglect our supplies of course."

It was well into the afternoon when they finally reached the small village that practically stood in the middle of nowhere, though a slightly visible road did cross it, effectively forming it's main, and only street. The outermost house was that of a woodcutter's, at least based on the logs next to the house along with a man chopping wood.

The man immediately stopped as he saw them approaching, and surprisingly, he walked over to the travelers to greet them.

"Welcome to our little village. I'm Dren." - he said, slightly panting from work as he was leaning on his axe - "What's your business here at the edge of the world?" - he asked smiling.

"Thank you for the warm greetings at this cold place." - Shen answered - "We're heading to Rakelstake, we're only stopping by to resupply on food. Could you perhaps tell us the way leading to the city?"

"Well it's no hard business, everyone going to Rakelstake passes through Snowgate, which would be our little village." - answered the rather strong looking woodcutter - "although, they usually come from the South. Rakelstake is two days north along the road on foot. So then, we do have an Inn, but I dare invite you to be my guests, I have good food and ask less for it."

"Why? Is there something wrong with the Inn?" - asked Akali.

"Right now a rather needy trader resides there, renting the only rooms we have with his bodyguard. He's going on the nerves of our poor Olkruf and I'd spare him of the trouble."

"And the coin, hm?" - said Shen.

"Well the merchant pays rather well I hear. But I'm not forcing anything, you're certainly welcome to try the Inn if you insist." - he paused for a moment then asked in lower voice - "You're in a hurry to the city?"

"We aren't planning to stay for the night, if that's what you're asking. The sooner we're in Rakelstake the better." - Shen answered.

"Well if that's the case, I might have an offer for you, but ... I would not talk about it here. Let's get inside, shall we?"

Shen looked at Akali and she nodded, so they followed the woodcutter into his simple home. Through the door they entered into the single room wooden house, only slightly warmer than the outside, and after Dren closed the door behind them, he invited them to sit by the table.

"Now, I have some food, but as you know life is hard here, and as much as I would like to, I can't give charity."

"Nor do we need it." - Shen answered - "How much would you ask for?"

"I think twenty coppers would cover it." - as Shen handed him the money, Dren put bread, goat cheese and some pork on the table while he continued - "So, I've got a carriage in my backyard here that suffered a little damage on my last trip, but I could repair it until tomorrow and my friend has a horse to borrow. The problem is, I have no reason to go to Rakelstake. But there is a way you could give me one."

"What would that be?" - asked Shen after seconds of silence.

"You see the merchant I mentioned before..." - the man started nervously - "... see he was to bring me a rather odd, square shaped golden amulet, from a friend far to the south, outside the country."

"I'm sorry but we have no time to look for it..." - Shen started but he was interrupted.

"No, I know where it is, he has it right here with himself, that's not the problem. The problem is, that he won't give it to me, even though my friend paid him at the start of his journey, all in advance. He says taxes increased and roads became more difficult. He wants an additional three gold coins, but I never had that much money in my entire life."

"I'm sorry again, but we can't help you out. We don't have that much either." - Shen said quietly.

"Don't you see... I'm not asking you to pay for it." - the man said, now really nervous - "Well I was thinking, maybe you could ... well ... steal it back for me." - then he quickly added - "Look, it was already paid for and paid fairly. It wouldn't really be stealing."

"And why this amulet would take us to Rakelstake?" - asked Shen.

"Obviously I can only sell it in the city, it holds no value here. And the trip would be very profitable."

"Why don't you take it back yourself?" - asked Akali.

"Well, I asked the village chief and he explicitly stated he wants no violence. It's a trader from Noxus and it could start a bloody war. And I would also be spotted quite easily if I were to attempt sneaking." - he added laughing.

"Alright." - Shen said as he stood up, finishing his meal - "Start repairing the carriage and make arrangements for the horse. I suppose it will last till dawn, so we have to spend the night here after all."

"That is correct. But please try not to mess it up. It would get all of us in trouble."

"I think the three of us can handle it." - said Akali, then she continued - "Are yordles welcome here in Freljord?"

"Making use of his fur, is he?" - smiled the woodcutter as he looked down at Kennen, being almost four times his height - "We have no problems with yordles here, after all we have talking bears too. Though not many." - he smiled.

Shen decided that this approach can save them precious time and so he went to scout the area of the village's inn. It was a single level but relatively large building. He went around once then headed inside to look around, while he also ordered some local mead, to avoid suspicion. The tavern had one large hall and a narrow corridor on the side that seemed to lead to the renting rooms. Based on what he saw, he concluded that these rooms are the ones with the windows looking north.

He had a short chat with the Innkeeper, he asked about the trader and Olkruf confirmed what Shen already heard from the woodcutter, that the merchant was from Noxus, and was a rather fussy sort, he especially had problems with the heavy wind sometimes blowing the windows open at night. Shen talked for a while more then left as it started to get dark.

There wasn't much to do at this small village out in the open tundra. Even though the villagers were nicer than in the other places Shen visited in the last few weeks, the ninja decided to meditate by an old loan tree at the edge of the settlement, staring into the dim orange rays of the descending sun over the endless snowy yellowish land. It was well after midnight when Akali came up to him.

"The carriage is repaired, Shen. We should get that amulet and be on our way."

"The windows can be pushed open, if we choose to go that way." - said Shen as he got onto his feet - "For I don't suppose you have lockpicks with you."

"We should have bought some in Noxus. Though I've brought a throwing knife." - answered Akali - "Still I'm not even sure he locks his door at this forsaken village."

"Given what I heard about him from the Innkeeper, I'm rather certain he does. Where's Kennen?"

"He lost on dice so he had to stay and help Dren with the horse." - smiled Akali.

Shen smiled and nodded, then motioned towards the Inn, explaining that they need to approach the northern windows. Once there, at first they just listened, making sure the trader is asleep. Which he wasn't. They could hear a conversation between two men.

"One of them must be the trader and the other should be his bodyguard Dren mentioned." - whispered Shen.

They couldn't make out much. It seemed the voice who appeared to be the trader was cursing over something, but it appeared he already told his problem in detail, and now was only repeating parts like "... idiotic tribal primitives ... never make it here on a bloody deadline ... we shouldn't even deal with them, it's not like they can fight, or make a difference ... "

"Do you think ... " - whispered Akali.

"Noxus dealing with the Winter's Claw? Unfortunately it's quite possible." - Shen whispered back.

"Let's just get that amulet for now, we'll think this over later."

They had to wait and hour before the noxian merchant finally grew tired and stopped cursing. Soon after the candlelights got off Shen carefully started to try the window's strength and after a few tries he pushed it in relatively silently. They climbed in and looked around in the small rentroom. There was a single bed, the man sleeping on it, a table and a traveling chest next to it.

They motioned to each other and while Shen quickly looked through the stuff and pouches left on the table, Akali used the throwing knife she brought along to fiddle the lock open. The chest was creaking terribly so she had to open it very slowly, it almost took five minutes. During this time Shen tried to read through the papers at the moonlight, but the letters were small and the light little. He did find a parchment with an official looking seal on it that looked interesting, so took that with him.

Once the chest's cover was open Shen quickly searched through it while Akali held it for him. There were clothes, jewels, accessories, bottles of ink and such. In one of the boots Shen found what they were looking for, the square shaped golden amulet. After carefully lowering the chest's top they left through the window and quickly headed back to Dren's house.

"Here it is. Now get that carriage rolling." - said Shen as he handed the amulet to it's supposedly rightful owner.

"Thank you friend. I am in your dept." - whispered Dren into the night.

"Then take us to Rakelstake and we're even."

"With pleasure. I was anyway going to go there." - Dren whispered with an even wider smile, holding the amulet in his left hand.

Under the cover of night the carriage rolled out and left the village of Snowgate behind, heading North along the narrow, barely visible road. Dren seemed to know the passage well, as he could keep the cart on track even in the dark. A few hours later it dawned, and that allowed them to go a little faster, having a cleared vision and direction.

The grazelands gave way to fields of ice and frozen wastelands as they continued the journey, up to the point where even the horse started to struggle with the snow, though it still took it much better than a human on foot could.

"Won't the trader search your house? With his thug?" - asked Kennen, to pass the time of traveling.

"I believe he will try, but I have friends there, and he doesn't." - Dren answered - "They won't let it happen. People of the north are strong, and in my village men aren't scared of a single noxian dog."

"I see. They didn't want you to cause trouble but they won't let him do that either."

"Our village is peaceful like that!" - laughed Dren - "Now, there are sometimes bandits on these roads. You know, law enforcement here is not exactly easy. If you would be kind enough to just draw those weapons of yours so that they can see. They won't pick a fight that comes with a risk."

Although no one was visible among the mounds of snow that covered the area like still waves of an ocean, they still did as Dren asked, just to be safe. They also took the opportunity to clean the weapons, as they certainly saw blood in the last few days.

It was almost dusk again when the walls of Rakelstake finally appeared in the distance, and both horse and passengers were weary from the road. Soon they reached the gates of the ice city, and gained access without much trouble, partly because the guards already knew Dren from some of his recent deliveries of wood. The carriage stopped at the stables within the walls, and the travelers got off, stretching their limbs.

"Thank you for the favor Dren." - said Shen - "I hope the amulet will fetch you a good price."

"A favor for a favor, friend." - answered Dren smiling - "It's been nice traveling with you guys."

"We have important business now that can't wait. I hope we'll meet again the future."

They shook hands and the three made their way towards the King's Castle, which's towers were visible from practically anywhere in the city.


End file.
